


Adventure Awaits

by motherofchimeras



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is a Paladin, Alternate Universe - Dungeons & Dragons, Catra is a Rogue, Chaotic Hot Catra, Eventual Romance, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Lawful Gay Adora, Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), Let Catra (She-Ra) Say Fuck, Magic, and they were party members
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:48:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29290128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/motherofchimeras/pseuds/motherofchimeras
Summary: After a chance encounter on the road to Waterdeep, the destinies of Adora, a paladin of Lathander, and Catra, a rogue looking for her next take, become intermingled. Though their alignments and philosophies on life and magic may appear to be opposite of each other, these two adventurers find themselves drawn together down the same path.Written to be dnd-newbie friendly w/ helpful notes and explanations of game specific terms. Current mature content: descriptions of violence and adult language.
Relationships: Adora & Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 114
Kudos: 112





	1. Spare the Dying

**Author's Note:**

> Rated mature for 1. Future spice (though currently SFW if you don’t get in trouble for viewing adult language at work). 2. Due to the nature of DND, there will be descriptions of combat and violence.
> 
> This is an imagining of She-Ra as combined with the mythos and mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons. Here at the beginning of the story, Adora is a variant human who is a level two Paladin who has not yet gotten to take her oath. She is sworn to Lathander, god of birth and renewal. Catra on the other hand is a level three rogue. Their character sheets are linked in chapter 4 (along with those of two other friendly faces). I’ll be leveling them up throughout the story, and you’ll be able to see the most current sheet with those links.
> 
> The setting is roughly going to be set in the world of the Forgotten Realms, centered around Faerun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> Cover Art by Alice Haun

There was only darkness -- an inky, black darkness and the feeling of falling. No temperature, no air. Simply nothing. A void to be filled only with fear and confusion. _Let go_ , a quiet and haunting voice called from below. _You will find peace,_ it offered. An appealing lie. She began to let the lie wrap around her mind, cast out any doubt and truths she knew. Then as it seemed the darkness was at its heaviness, there was sudden, blinding light. A visage of a great sun and fields. No more falling. A warm embrace lifted her out of the darkness and as she rose she could feel her body once more.

Her eyes flew open and were met with piercing blue ones. With a grunt and a twist of her shoulders, she threw off her assailant and grabbed for a dagger from her hip. She tried to stand but found her left ankle betrayed her as she tumbled back to the ground. She glared at the other person and realized in that moment it was not who she was expecting. The last things she remembered were the angry faces of a half-orc and a dwarf, a struggle, and a final crushing blow of a maul across her chest. This instead was a human woman with flowing blonde hair dressed in shining armor with a shield that bore the same symbol she had seen in her vision. 

“It’s okay, you’re safe. I only was healing you,” the blonde called out, holding her shield defensively but making no move towards the sword on her side. The other woman’s mismatched eyes began darting back and forth seeking something in the road. “They’re gone. They fled once I took a good chunk out of the dwarf.”

And so the rogue stilled the growl in her throat and stowed the dagger once more. She stretched her legs out in front of her and tried to move her ankle with a low whine creeping up in her throat, “Some fucking healer,” she complained before with a sigh she continued, “I mean, thanks, I guess.”

The blonde laughed as she came and knelt down beside her, “You were dying, and now you’re not. That’s pretty good healing in my book. I’m Adora, by the way.” She held out a hand to shake and the other woman took it with a groan. 

“Catra. Sorry, hard to be friendly when you just got the shit kicked out of you," she took her hand back and rested her head in hands while trying to piece together what had just happened. 

“I can imagine. Hey, listen, why don’t you camp with me tonight? We’re losing sun already and, I don’t want to presume, but being on this road are you also on your way to Waterdeep?” The other woman nodded. “Perfect. I’ll make camp for us, and in the morning with Lathander’s blessings restored, I’ll have you back on your feet.” 

“Ugh, you’re one of those religious types? This isn’t you trying to convert me while I can’t run away, is it?” Catra raised an eyebrow as the blonde smirked back at her. 

“And if I am, would you rather just stay here on the road for the next round of bandits, hmm?” Adora joked as she began gathering up some of the items on the road she presumed were Catra’s. 

“Can’t argue with that,” Catra said as she took the items from Adora and threw them back inside her pack. “How are—“ 

Her voice faded away into a squeak as unexpectedly Adora wrapped her arms around her and lifted her up into a bridal carry. The part of her that wasn't immediately annoyed was impressed with the strength of the woman. Though, she supposed, Adora had to be a beast to be able to wield the massive sword on her hip.

“Should warn a person before you just go manhandling them like that,” she complained, her tail rapidly swinging and smacking into Adora’s legs.

“Pfftt… I just thought I’d save you the indignity of having to ask me to carry you.” She repositioned the other woman in her arms to have a better hold on her as she began to head into the woods beside the road. 

Once sufficiently away from prying eyes of future travelers, she sat Catra down on the ground once more and began to make ready their camp. While she worked she kept eying the other woman and examined her appearance. Short dark brown hair, a bit messy from having been tousled in the fight no doubt. Mismatched eyes of gold and teal. Adorably cute catlike ears and tail, but no other similar features aside from the short light brown fur she could see that wasn’t covered by her black leather armor and deep maroon under shirt and leggings. 

“So,” she commented to fill the awkward silence as she was gathering tinder to create a fire for the night “Catra? I was expecting an interesting tabaxi name like… Wave on the Shore or Lightning after Thunder. But I suppose you don’t look like any Tabaxi I’ve ever seen…”

“That would be because I’m half human,” Catra explained as she flexed her hands and looked at her claws. The dried blood of one of the men was visible on her right hand.

“Huh,” Adora tilted her head as she looked at her, “I didn’t.. I mean, no offense, but I didn’t think tabaxi could mate with humans.”

“Wow, Adora, I’ve known you for ten whole minutes and you’re imagining my parents fucking.” She cackled as the other woman’s cheeks turned dark red.

“I was not! I was only making conversation,” Adora started more rapidly preparing the fire and desperately trying to not meet Catra’s gaze again.

“My mothers really wanted to have their own mixed up little baby, and so they prayed really hard to their stupid gods, did some rituals, and they got me. Can’t say it was worth all the effort.” She shrugged as she stretched her legs again with a groan. “And… I do have a tabaxi name, but I am absolutely not telling you.”

“Why even mention it if you don’t want to tell me,” Adora teased as she finally used her tinderbox and set the campfire to blaze.

“To torture your curiosity and obvious desire to know everything, of course,” Catra quipped back as she dug into her backpack and pulled out some rations to eat.

Adora smiled to herself at that as she took the bedrolls she had pulled from their packs and laid them out. She put her hands on her hips as she looked around their little campsite and made sure everything seemed in order. Once satisfied she sat down on a stump by Catra and offered her a drink from her water skin. 

Catra waved her off and produced a flask from inside her bag to drink from, “Need something to numb the pain. Your Lathander’s healing is leaving something to be desired.”

“You better watch that. He might tell me in a dream tonight that I need to smite you,” Adora warned as she screwed up her face to look intimidating before breaking back into a smile. “Who do your moms worship?”

“Selune and Ubtao.” Seeing Adora’s clear confusion at the second name, she continued, “My tabaxi mom is from Chult. Ubtao is an old god there. Not that I really care about any of that stuff… and, hey, quit trying to drag my whole life’s story out of me.” 

“I apologize for making conversation. Let’s just sit in utter silence, Call of the Trail.”

“Nice try, idiot.” Catra took another long drink from her flask before storing it once more.

“You’re so very charming, Calm in Transformation. Are you a bard?” Adora teased before having to lean back to dodge a lazy swing of Catra’s claws.

“Let’s fight and see if I try to sing you to death.” She brought her hand back and retracted her claws. Ever so carefully she brought herself up and balanced on her good leg. “I’m going to try to get some sleep. You’re first watch. I know your lame human eyes can’t see for shit when it’s really dark. Wake me up if you're getting mauled by an owlbear or something."

With surprising ease, Catra hopped her way over to her bedroll and brought herself back down with only a small grunt escaping once her ankle touched the ground. Adora watched her dexterous moves with fascination, but averted her gaze and began to blush as Catra began taking off her leathers. 

“I’m not getting naked to sleep, you know,” Catra commented once she was down to her regular clothes. “I don’t know if that’s some ridiculous shit you’ve heard about Tabaxi’s too.” 

“Oh, sorry, no, I, ha,” Adora stammered as her blush spread deeper on the pale skin Catra could see that wasn’t covered in armor. “I didn’t think that.”

“Why did I get rescued by the weirdest person in Faerun,” Catra mumbled to herself as she settled in with her blanket and turned her back to her companion. 

Adora took that as her cue to shut her mouth. Instead she busied herself with silently cleaning and polishing her greatsword. Occasionally she looked up to cast her “lame human eyes” out into the dim light of the early night. Her mind puzzled over the interesting young woman she had saved today. They had not even had an opportunity to discuss what circumstances brought her to being found bloodied and unconscious on the road. The paladin certainly didn’t take the time to interrogate the brutes she found towering over the lithe woman’s body. As soon as she came upon the scene she was overtaken with a powerful need to do whatever it took to save Catra. Was this a message from Lathander? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're unfamiliar with tabaxi and their interesting naming traditions, here's the little blurb about it and some examples from Volo's Guide:  
> "Each tabaxi has a single name, determined by clan and based on a complex formula that involves astrology, prophecy, clan history, and other esoteric factors. Tabaxi names can apply to both males and females, and most use nicknames derived from or inspired by their full names.  
> Tabaxi Names: Cloud on the Mountaintop (Cloud), Five Timber (Timber), Jade Shoe (Jade), Left-Handed Hummingbird (Bird), Seven Thundercloud (Thunder), Skirt of Snakes (Snake), Smoking Mirror (Smoke)"
> 
> Will Adora ever figure out what Catra is a nickname for? Hmm...


	2. Mislead

“Catra,” Adora said quietly as she stood over her sleeping companion. The other woman’s ears wiggled slightly but her eyes remained closed, “Catra?” She tried a little louder. Nothing still. She gently nudged her shoulder with her foot and the other woman growled before rolling over to look up at her.

“Did you seriously just kick me to wake me up?” Catra questioned in what can only be described as a whisper yell, not wanting to alert any nearby beasts or, worse, people. 

“No! I barely tapped you. The last time I tried to wake you up you tried to stab me! Excuse me for keeping my distance.” Adora sighed as she settled down onto her own bedroll. She had already taken off her armor and neatly deposited it by her belongings. Her underclothing was a white tunic and light blue pair of leggings. 

Catra pulled on her leathers while continuing to grumpily mumble to herself. Once redressed she tried to pop back up to her one good leg, but found herself more stiff than she had been when she laid down. As she tumbled back towards the ground once more, Adora dove in and managed to catch her before she fell entirely. 

“You should ask for help next time,” Adora chided her as she slowly lifted Catra up and helped guide her over to the stump where she’d been sitting during her watch. 

“And you should go to sleep, so your stupid god gives you your magic back, and there won’t need to be a next time,” Catra said more harshly than she meant to. Adora’s normally pleasant face dropped and she frowned as she silently made her way back to go to sleep. 

“Listen, it’s uh,” Catra started, clearing her throat and trying to think of what to say, “It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me, and I’m not trying to be an asshole-”

“But you most definitely are, in case you were wondering,” Adora huffed as she laid down on her side and held herself up on her elbow to look at her. 

“Right. I know. I’ll work on that,” Catra let out a long sigh as she rubbed her temples with her hand. “Thanks for everything. I’m pretty sure I was gone there for a minute yesterday.”

“You’re welcome, Catra,” Adora said simply, a bit of light returning to her eyes before she closed them and let herself rest down on the mat. “Now let me sleep so my God will allow me to keep saving you.”

Catra rolled her eyes and smirked to herself at that. She reached down for her bag and then realized she had left it over by the now silent Adora. Once she felt sure that the blonde was sleeping, Catra whispered to herself and made a series of gestures with her right hand. A spectral copy of her hand blinked into existence and latched onto the bag before floating its cargo back over to her. 

Once she grabbed hold of the bag with her actual hand she dismissed the arcane one. She dug down inside of it and retrieved a paper that she had already read and reread it felt like hundreds of times. Written in a language she learned from the small thieves guild in her hometown, it said: “You have potential. Xanathar is watching.” The other side of the paper was a basic sketch of the layout of Waterdeep, although she had no idea how accurate it was. This was the closest she had gotten to the city. 

She tucked the paper back away in a secret side compartment she had built into the bag, and pulled out her flask again. For the pain, she reasoned. It didn’t hurt that it helped with the boredom of a silent lonely watch. She took lazy sweeps of the forests that surrounded them, seeing much farther than her human companion. Nothing aside from simple nocturnal animals seemed to be stirring. And so, she let her gaze wander to the sleeping woman. 

She wondered if the nauseatingly good paladin would feel differently if she knew who she was saving. That she was the one who had started the fight, frustrated with her temporary partners in crime. Although, _she_ hadn’t intended on killing anyone-- she only wanted to bully her way into getting what she thought was her fair share of a recent take. She apparently overestimated her standing within the small group, because negotiations quickly turned to blows and it was two on one.

“I would’ve liked to see the look on Kelv’s face when he got sliced up by a baby paladin,” she thought to herself with a smirk. It restored her sense of pride to imagine his fear and shame instead of the self satisfied smile he gave her as the half-orc took her down. “Fucking send their severed heads back to their mothers when I see them again.” She shook her head a bit to dismiss the dark thought for now. 

The rest of the watch passed without any incident aside from Adora snoring in her sleep. Catra kept herself busy maintaining the fire and using its light to read a book while intermittently scanning the darkness for danger. Once the sun was rising, she conjured the spectral hand once more, this time willing it to be entirely invisible. 

“Hey! Cut that out!” Adora shouted as she was awoken by what she was certain was Catra pulling her hair. To her surprise, when she rolled over to face the other girl she was just peacefully sitting on the stump, reading. 

Catra glanced over with a confused look on her face, “Are you okay? What happened?” 

“I…” she stammered, reaching behind her head and touching to make sure nothing was on her hair, “I must have been dreaming. Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

“Oh, you could never scare me, Adora,” Catra offered with a sly smile. “How was your sleep? Lavender or whatever pump you up with all the good magic?” 

“Lathander,” Adora corrected as she stretched before getting up. She started the hard work of donning all of her heavy armor once again while Catra sat watching her. “I slept pretty well actually, all things considered. Still getting used to this whole camping thing.” 

“How long have you been on the road?” Catra continued watching her and analyzing her for any sign of deception. 

“Oh, hmm,” Adora stopped what she was doing and put her hand on her chin while thinking. “Not long. Two months maybe? That was when I split up with my mentor, Mara.” She said the last part with a drop in her enthusiasm and a worried look on her face.

Catra almost didn’t push it any further when she noticed the change in her demeanor, but her curiosity got to her, “Bad party break-up?”

“She was called to help with a matter she said I wasn’t ready for,” Adora admitted with a hint of shame and loss in her voice. She busied herself with packing up the rest of the camp to keep from having to look at Catra and show exactly how much she was on the verge of tears. “I tried to talk her into letting me go, but… no. Adora, you need to find your own path. You’re ready for your destiny through Lathander.”

“Oh I hate that bullshit.” Catra laughed before dropping into a false, more serious version of her usually playful raspy voice, “Go forth and solve your life’s maze, Catra.”

“Right!” Adora yelled in support as she finished rolling up their beds. She pulled two oranges from her bag and offered one to the tabaxi as she sat down beside her. “It’s like, hey, at least give me some direction here. Instead it’s just wandering town to town finding ways to help people.” 

“Mmmhmm,” Catra affirmed as she began tearing into the orange with her claws. “All this… helping people, no direction. Really frustrating for me.”

“That’s why I’m going to Waterdeep,” Adora explained after finally working her way into her orange. “I’m hoping if I can connect with someone… maybe the Lords, I can get called to something great too.” She took a few bites of orange as she gazed off, imagining herself slaying dragons and saving the day. “How about you? What brings you to Waterdeep?”

“Same as you, basically.” Catra figured that wasn’t a terribly big lie. It was the same,  _ basically _ . “So, let’s get this show on the road and find some glory. Ready to heal me with his good graces yet, pal?”

“Of course,” Adora said with a smile. She finished her orange and reached down to place her hand on one of Catra’s. Using the other to hold on to a holy symbol that hung from her neck, she spoke some arcane words that only she understood.

Slowly but surely, Catra felt a warming sense of relief rush through her body. Her ankle ceased the dull throb that had helped keep her up through the night. Tentatively, she brought herself up and placed weight back down on it. No more pain.

“Feel better?” Adora asked hopefully as she stood up beside her, anticipating needing to catch her.

“Perfect. Thanks,” Catra said as she happily bounced her weight back and forth between her legs testing her limits. “Maybe I ought to keep someone like you around. Sure as hell beats crawling and hiding in the woods for a couple days.” 

Adora did a silly bow as she proclaimed, “No need for your thanks, miss, it’s simply my duty as your regular religious idiot type.” 

“Nope, nevermind, I take it all back,” Catra shook her head and frowned in disgust, “I’ll buy healing potions. They’re not annoying.” 

“Ah, come on, you like it,” Adora said cheerfully before she went to make sure their fire was completely out. “Personally, I think it gets lonely traveling all by myself. I’m glad to have a little company.”

“We’ll see if you still think that now that I’m not half dead.” The tabaxi quipped back and began to head back towards the road. “Come on, pally. I’m eating a hot meal for lunch today.” 

“Lead the way, Cave Trap,” Adora called after her as she hurried to catch up to the once more agile woman. 

“Not even close.” She shouted back before laughing this little raspy laugh that Adora was becoming a big fan of. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Other Tabaxi/Ubtao fun fact: Ubtao's symbol is a maze. Hence Catra's annoyed reference to being told to solve her life's maze.
> 
> Next time, we'll have a longer chapter and get these young adventurers into Waterdeep, the City of Splendors!


	3. City of Splendors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventurers make they way into Waterdeep, the City of Splendors. Population: way more people than either of them have ever seen. Catra learns what it's like to be a exasperated criminal mom trying to protect their hyperactive toddler in a crowd. Adora learns not to judge a bartender by their monstrous appearance.

“Wow, you are the world’s slowest person,” Catra mocked Adora when she finally caught up to her on the road, clanking along in her armor. “And the absolute loudest. If anyone ever offers you a stealth mission, do yourself a favor and decline immediately.”

“I’ll remind you that only one of us almost died yesterday,” Adora pointed out with a smug look on her face. “Maybe _you_ should invest in real armor while you’re in town.”

“Don’t need good armor when you're too fast to get hit,” she retorted casually with a shrug. Upon hearing Adora fight back a laugh, she screwed up her face and added, “Shut up! Yesterday doesn’t count! I was.. I was outnumbered and I didn’t see it coming.”

“Okay, okay, calm down, Catra,” Adora held up her hands as if to show surrender. “I believe you. What exactly happened with those guys, anyway?”

Catra had been pondering the perfect lie for this all night when she couldn’t occupy her mind with reading. Yet, staring into the other woman’s concerned blue eyes, she felt herself falter, “They… um. Just bandits, I guess.” Her planned embellishments were unnecessary it seemed, because the paladin looked not distrusting but infuriated. 

“Gods, I hate bandits! The worst kind of people. They just think they can take whatever they want,” Adora balled her hands up into fists and stared angrily ahead, “If we find those guys, I am going to tie them up and haul them right into the city watch!” 

“The worst,” Catra echoed solemnly while turning her gaze back to the road ahead as well. “Don’t worry, they didn’t take anything. Thanks to you, I’d guess.”

“Right place, right time,” she replied with a smile returning to her face and relaxing her hands. “Must have been fate, right?” 

“Maybe,” Catra nervously ran one of her hands through her hair as she thought about what to steer the conversation to. “So, you got my life’s story yesterday...”

“I’d hardly call hearing about your moms your life’s story,” Adora countered. “But, go on.”

“Sure, but I don’t know anything about you. All I know is your name and that you say you love Lathander,” Catra moved ahead of her and began walking backwards to face Adora. She dramatically swung her arms and contorted her face into exaggerated fear while delivering her next bit, “What if you’re one of those evil oath breaker paladins I’ve heard about? I've been worried that you're trying to convert me to the light, but you’re really biding your time before you chop my head off and offer it to a demon.” 

“Ha, I don’t even have an oath to break yet! And… I’m not even sure if that’s how that works,” Adora said thoughtfully as she pondered if her mentor had covered anything in regards to oath breakers. 

Catra laughed as she watched the other girl deep in thought, “Hey, Adora. You’re not exactly giving me great reassurance that you’re not planning to decapitate me.” 

“Sorry! Well, let’s see. I’m from a tiny town called Longsaddle, it’s up north. My parents did mostly tailoring work. Not too exciting... Nobody had to make any deals with gods for me to be born,” Adora explained and took a deep calming breath before continuing on to the next part, “They died a couple of years ago. That’s when Mara took me in and started training me.” 

Catra spun on her heel and started walking normally, but slowed her pace to be side by side again. “Sorry to hear about your parents,” she offered softly, not sure what more to say.

“It’s okay, I mean, it’s not okay… but I’m at peace with it,” the blonde tried to fix her face back up to the best smile she could manage. “Training with Mara has been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Now, I have the power to save other people.”

Catra gave her a weary little smile back as she said, “Like me.”

“Exactly,” Adora said confidently. 

The small talk started to drop between the two as they progressed further down the road in what became a comfortable silence. Slowly but surely Adora’s thoughts drifted away from the loss of her parents and back to the destiny she imagined waited for them in Waterdeep. 

\---

The City of Splendors lived up to its name indeed as the two women came through one of the many gated entrances of the walled city. Buildings and people sprawled out as far as they could see. Neither of them had ever seen anything quite like it.

“Wow,” Adora commented with her mouth hanging open as she looked with wide eyes at beautiful architecture rising up in the distance.

Catra immediately kicked at her ankle and whispered, “Hey, dummy. You’re going to get us robbed with that stupid doe eyed look on your face. At least pretend like you belong here.” 

The paladin nodded and took on a more neutral look but the sparkle in her eyes was still hard to hide. She leaned into the other and whispered, “It’s so big. I think my town could fit into one of these blocks.”

“Okay, country bumpkin, here’s the plan,” Catra took her hand and pulled her in closer to her. “You figure out where you need to go and I’m going to keep my eyes out for all the urchins and murderers you've alerted to our presence.” 

Adora tugged on her hand and began leading them towards the center of the city. Not even a minute into the city, Catra already had to bat away one kid’s hand with her tail as they made for the coin pouch Adora had far too obviously on her side. “Could she be an easier mark,” Catra thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. While she had her own mission here in the city, she figured that she wouldn’t make any progress asking about an infamous crimelord in the light of day. Might as well keep her ‘savior’ from being taken for everything she’s worth before she even found a place to stay.

As they reached a market area, Catra yanked Adora’s hand and pulled her to a stop before she entered a new sea of people. “Where exactly are you trying to go,” she inquired trying to keep some of the irritation out of her voice. 

“Oh… I, uh,” the human gave a silly grin as she let go of the tabaxi’s hand and used it to scratch under her ponytail, “I don’t exactly _know,_ but I’ll know it when I see it!”

“You seriously survived two months on your own,” Catra growled as she shook her head in disbelief. “Okay, listen. Step one. You’re planning on staying at least a night, right?” Adora nodded. “Then let’s find somewhere to stay and eat. I’m sure we’ll find some other want-to-be-heroes, and ask where someone goes to pick up jobs to save the world.”

“Smart plan! See? This is why we met,” Adora declared, grabbing the other’s hand again, and starting to drag her off again before she realized she still didn’t know where to go, “Now… where do you think we could find lodging.” 

Catra scanned her eyes over the crowds of people and buildings. Tucked between two much larger and nicer buildings was a decent looking tavern and inn. Gold colored lettering shimmered on the front with the words, “The Drunken Firefly.” She pointed it out to Adora who began once more to cut their way through the crowds, the heavy clank of her armor giving ample time for people to dodge out of their way as she barreled through. 

Adora pushed open the heavy doors of the inn and then immediately shrieked, pushed Catra back behind her, and drew her sword. 

“There is a werebear behind the bar,” she whispered back to her confused ally. The werebear in question looked over and tilted his head at her before going back to shaking a drink.

“Gah, humans. So rude.” Catra came back around and put herself between them and the bar. “Put the damn sword away. He’s making drinks not clawing up patrons."

Adora made an awkward smile towards the bartender as she put her sword away and relaxed her stance. She whispered, “Are we going to get thrown out? Should we find somewhere else? We should definitely find somewhere else…”

“Not a chance,” Catra laughed before she sauntered up to the bar and hopped up onto a stool. She looked back to Adora and patted the stool beside her with a bemused grin on her face.

Reluctantly, Adora made her way to the counter as well and sat down. She gave the bartender another awkward smile, “I’m so sorry, mr… bear.” 

“Name’s Christoff,” he offered before turning his attention to Catra, “What can I get for you two?”

“Rooms, if you’ve got em. One night at least,” Catra offered cooly with a smile. “And some lunch, immediately. This one gets awfully dumb when she’s hungry.” 

Christoff laughed as he pulled out a log book and prepared two keys. “Two rooms’ll be ten silver. Lunch is depending on what you want. Got a special today on mackerel and some fresh bread, three silver a plate. A couple of ales will run you four copper.” 

Adora quickly grabbed for her coin pouch and counted out the entire amount plus an extra gold, “Thank you so much, Christoff.” 

He gave what Adora hoped was a smile as he deposited the coin. He handed over the keys to Catra all the same before he turned to call out the order to the kitchen. 

“I’m not paying you back for the tip, that’s your human guilt tax,” Catra said she dipped a hand into her backpack to retrieve her own coin pouch.

Adora reached over and stopped her, “Don’t worry about any of it. I’m doing pretty well for myself these days after helping in a town over with their goblin problem.” She grinned proudly. 

“And you’re going to end up with nothing if you’re advertising that and you don’t keep that thing somewhere safer,” The brunette looked back over to see Christoff returning and beginning to pour their ales, “Perfect, I need a drink to deal with you.” 

The werebear slid over the two ales and went to work putting away some clean glasses. Adora gestured at the coin pouch on her hip and looked defiantly at Catra, “What’s unsafe about it being here? I’m very perceptive, Catra. I’d notice if someone _tried_ to take it, and then I’d catch a thief. Seems like a plus to me,” she nodded confidently to herself before taking a drink of ale that made her scrunch up her face again. 

Catra gave her usual raspy laugh before she took a big drink of her own with no reaction, “Not much of an ale woman, huh? So what do you like, fruity sweet things?” 

“I don’t normally drink much,” Adora admitted as she nervously drummed on her glass. “But I like wine, mostly. It hits me so fast though, and I am quite the handful, so Mara says.” Catra kept her eyes trained on Adora and looked like she was waiting for more, “I mean, I haven’t done anything _crazy_. I’m fine. And.. I can drink this, I’m not going to let it go to waste. Though something fruity does sound good… why are you looking at me like that?”

Catra smirked as she held up the coin bag she had untied from Adora’s hip while she was caught up talking, “You’re right. So perceptive.” 

“That’s not fair,” Adora said as she snatched the small bag back and stored it away in her backpack, “I didn’t expect my own ally to steal from me.”

“Trust no one but yourself, Adora,” Catra said with a shrug before she downed more of her ale. ‘I certainly don’t,’ she thought to herself.

Adora frowned but then turned her attention to the tavern around them. There were items displayed above the bar that had golden nameplates. A busted wand with circles around it hung close enough that she could read, _Wand of Magic Missiles, Destroyed in Battle of Brynshander. - C.B._

“This place is really cool,” she gestured to the various supposedly magic items on the walls. 

Catra had not taken much stock of the tavern and inn aside from scanning for any suspicious characters. Her eyes landed on a small metal rod that appeared to be floating in front of its nameplate, _Immovable Rod, Unexpected Savior of Vesper’s Rest - K.B._

She got Christoff’s attention and pointed up, “Is that a real immovable rod?” He nodded. “Why would someone just waste it for bar decor?”

“Eh, it’s the owners from back when they weren't so domestic-like. Sentimental lot they are,” he shrugged and looked wistfully up at the rod, “I reckon it’s the only thing up there that still works though. A shame.” The werebear's attention was taken by a shout in the back and he hurried off to retrieve their food.

“Wow,” Adora said with the same wide eyed enthusiasm that she had when entering the city, “Can you imagine? Getting your fill of adventuring and then being able to relax and show off all the amazing things you’ve done.” 

“I can’t even imagine,” Catra said, eying the rod again as her tail twitched below her. ‘Don’t think about it,’ she warned herself internally. 

Christoff reappeared and delivered the two plates of food. Adora ate ravenously which elicited raised eyebrows from her companion and the bartender. When she noticed their eyes on her, she tried to slow down as a blush appeared on her cheeks, “Mm.. really good, Mr. b.. Christoff.”

“Before you run off again… Can you possibly tell us where someone like my hungry friend here could find work worthy of a young paladin like herself.” Catra gave what she hoped was a winning smile as she stared up at the werebear. 

Christoff scratched the bottom of his chin with one of his claws before he came up with, “Lots of job boards around town. There’s one out front, the owners here pick the jobs that go on it. They tend to be a good bet. More serious work, I’d say check with the Blackstaff or if you can find somebody in the Lords Alliance. I’m guessin’ she isn’t quite ready for that though.”

“Hey,” Adora complained through a full mouth before remembering her manners. She finished chewing and took another bitter drink of ale, barely having finished a quarter of it. She composed herself and gave a simple, “Thank you.” 

“He’s right, you've gotta admit that. You’re new in town. Seems like you’ll need to prove yourself first before you're asking to be assigned to dragon duty,” Catra explained after she finished her meal and drink. 

“Well then, so do you,” Adora pointed out. “Come on, let’s go check out this job board. I’m sure with the two of us we’d clear the whole thing in no time."

Catra swung her keyring around one of her fingers and she shook her head no, “I am going to put my stuff down and take a nap. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t slept in a real bed in weeks.”

Adora pouted at her before she realized it was to no avail as Catra’s expression was unchanging. And, honestly, she could really use a good rest too. “Fiiine,” she drew out as she got up from the stool and followed her upstairs.


	4. Evocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora and Catra attempt to have a nice shopping episode. Both make some new connections and take on new challenges. Some more foreboding than others.

Catra jumped up from her peaceful slumber as the sound of loud banging on the door had began to enter her dreams. “Catra,” a now too familiar voice called from the hall. “Come on! It’s almost sundown. Did you die?”

“Yes,” she shouted back as she thumped back down onto her cozy pillow. 

“Oh come on, Catra,” Adora pleaded from the other side of the door, “I guess I’ll go wandering around Waterdeep alone.” 

“Fine, I’m up,” she growled as she got up from the bed and unlocked the door. Adora was beaming on the other side of it. 

“Aw, you’re worried about me.” The paladin gave a smug smile which was met with a grumpy mismatched glare.

Catra decided not to dignify that with a response as she turned back into the room and threw her backpack over her shoulder. Taking a cue from Adora having left her armor in her room, she decided against the heavy leathers and bulkier overshirt. Instead she stayed in a sleeveless lighter maroon top along with her leggings. With her back turned to Adora she slipped a dagger into a sheath hidden under her shirt. 

“Do you actually have plan this time?” she questioned as she met Adora at the door once more, locking it behind her. 

“Your midday hibernation gave me plenty of time to think of one.” Adora stuck out her hand and began counting her action steps, “Step one, check out the job board here. Step two, pick the quest we’re destined for. Step three, determine if we need special gear. Step--” 

Catra cut her off, “Pick a quest, go shopping. You really took hours to plan that out?”

“What, no, of course not,” Adora did her best to brush off the accusation. “I did nap for a few...minutes.”

The two women continued picking at each other until they were walking through the tavern section of the building. Christoff was still behind the bar, and Adora immediately went silent as she tried to look away from him. Catra gave the werebear a nod that he returned. Once they were outside of The Drunken Firefly, it took no time at all to find the board that they breezed by on the way in. 

“Hmm…” Adora hummed to herself as she read over each posting carefully. 

“Oh here you go, ‘dora,” Catra tried her best to sound sincere as she pointed at a posting with a goofy drawing on it. “A wild sheep chase. Perfect.”

“What,” the paladin looked over at the posting, “Wait, it’s a literal missing sheep? Ugh, Catra, be serious. We are looking for our path to glory here.” 

“Not a lot that looks too promising in that area.” Catra continued running her eyes over the postings before she picked another at random. 

Adora looked over and gasped, “Oh, this is it, Catra! Perfect,” She took it down from the board and folded it carefully before putting in a pocket.

“Wait, I didn’t even..” she started to protest, but then remembered she didn’t have any intentions of going on whatever this little quest was anyway. “Think you’re going to need any special gear?” 

“I won’t know until I see it,” Adora assured her and grabbed her hand before leading them out back towards the market. 

“You’re much faster without all that junk on,” Catra commented as she let herself be dragged around. 

Adora looked back and winked at her, “Fast _and_ strong. Beat that!” 

Suddenly Catra came to a stop and yanked her back towards her, catching the human as she lost her footing.

“Ow.” Adora glared up at the tabaxi as she rubbed the muscle on the arm that had been pulled. 

“Yeah, ow,” Catra echoed as she put a finger under her chin and directed her gaze towards the open fire pit she nearly ran into. 

Adora, realizing she was still leaning into the other woman, steadied herself on her feet before moving forward again and wildly gesturing at the pit while shouting, “This is ridiculous! Who puts a fire pit in the middle of a square?! People are going to get hurt!” 

“Perhaps you should watch where you’re going, miss,” a dragonborn man answered back coldly as he began laying out skewers of meat over the fire. “We have a you break it, you buy it philosophy here in the markets. And these are some of my _finest_ meats.” 

Adora quickly apologized and then sulked back over to Catra who was watching with her arms crossed and clearly holding back her laughter. 

“I swear, people normally like me,” she whined to Catra who shook her head before patting Adora on the top of hers.

“Poor Adooora,” she stretched out her name in an attempt at a pitying tone. “Sweet Adora. Not everyone’s going to like you. Get used to it.”

“Very comforting,” Adora said with a little laugh. “Maybe you should lead the way.” 

Catra looked around the market, and decided it was for the best, “We’re doing exactly one round. Keep those big blue eyes open for anything you need and people trying to steal from us, okay?” 

“Got it!” Adora said as she opened her eyes wider Catra thought was possible, “Like this?” 

“Lathander help her,” Catra mumbled to herself before she forced a smile and said, “I can guarantee no one is going to approach you looking like that.”

After an hour of restocking on rations, bandages, and a random smattering of things Catra tried to talk Adora out of, the two women were finally back at the Inn. Before going inside, Catra stopped and handed over the bundle she was carrying.

“You go ahead and relax before we head out tomorrow. I’ve got a meeting with a friend. I’ll be back before you go to bed, promise.” She hoped Adora was too tired to question her much, but just in case she started to sprint away before she had a chance to reply.

Adora stood, baffled and weighed down by all of the things she picked up. She watched as the agile young woman’s form disappeared in the distance. “Catra,” she muttered to herself in a mixture of worry and annoyance. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shriek beside her, “IT’S GONE, BOW.” She turned her head and looked over to see a halfling woman with pink hair on the shoulders of a half elf man. 

“Calm down, Glim. I’m sure it’s just behind one of these others,” the half elf said as he lifted up some of the notices hopelessly. “Or.. maybe it was taken down because the exact spot it was in is blank and this is so beautifully organized.” 

“Put me down,” the angry halfing commanded. He knelt down and she hopped off to the ground with a stomp. “And I am not calming down! The first quest my mom’s going to let me go on, and we forget to take the stupid notice. I don’t even remember where we were supposed to go.”

“If you would let me think,” the half-elf took a moment to stare the blank spot on the board, as though willing his memory to reconstruct the paper. “Pine… forest.. No.. elm.. Carriage.” 

“You’re just naming trees and things, Bow! This isn’t--” the halfing took a pause in her tirade to look up what was a towering woman by comparison. “Can I help you?”

“You’re looking for the Oakhurst quest, right? The missing magic item?” The duo’s eyes lit up as they nodded enthusiastically. “My friend and I actually just picked that one up, but we’d be more than happy to have some more help. I’m Adora, by the way. I’d offer to shake your hand but uh,” she wiggled her full arms. 

“Glimmer,” the halfing said cheerily and gestured back to the half elf, “This is Bow. Do you really mean it? I mean, we don’t even _care_ about the gold, we--” 

Bow tapped her on the shoulder and looked down as he whispered, “I care about the gold, Glim. Arrows don’t buy themselves.” With a smile he straightened up and took the parcel that had been tossed on top by Catra as it was beginning to slip. “Nice to meet you, Adora. Are you staying here?” 

\----

After consulting a large map of the city on display, Catra determined that the hand drawn map was guiding her to southside docks. Bobbing and weaving her way through the town was easy enough, no one seemed to get her a second glance. A nice change, she thought. 

Once she reached the water, the salty air tickled her nose. She carefully took out the note and examined the scene around her. The road and the cut of the dock was accurate, but none of the buildings seemed to match. Except… she made her way over to what appeared to be a dive bar that had “The Cheeky Pelican” unceremoniously scrawled across its outer wall in mismatched paint. She run a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. No going back.

Entering the bar, she was shocked to find not a plush secret den but truly what the outside implied. A dingy, small lonely looking place. She casually looked around at the few patrons who just glanced at her before turning back to their own drinks. Once she made her way to the bar she was met with a lizardfolk man dressed in all black. 

She placed the note on the bar with the map side up. The lizardfolk man looked down and then back up at her with little reaction. 

“I got this note, either this map is awful or I think it’s supposed to lead me here,” she explained as she narrowed her eyes and analyzed the lizardfolk man. No reaction. 

“Sorry about that,” a chipper voice offered as a small human man with shaggy blonde hair appeared beside the bartender. “Rogelio is still working on his common. What can we get for you?”

Catra leaned in and slid the note towards the young man. She followed with a hushed voice, “I am looking for… Xanathar.” 

The young man’s eyes grew wide and he slid the note back, “Oh, no, no, we can’t help with that. We aren’t allowed to--”

“Hey, Ears,” a female voice shouted from behind them. Catra raised an eyebrow as she looked back to see a halfling woman cozied up in a corner table with a journal splayed out in front of her. “Yeah, you. Come here, bring the note.”

Catra picked up the note from the bar and made her way back to the other woman. Stay calm, she told herself. She sat down across from the red-haired halfling woman who was finishing a few notes. The tabaxi waited in silence, fighting her dueling temptations to shut the book to demand attention or to try to read the script upside down. 

“Patient,” the halfling woman commented as she finally looked up and sat down her pen, “That’s a good thing. Alright, hand over the note.” 

Catra hesitated, clutching the note in her hands as she eyed the halfling.

“Guarantee there’s nothing on there I haven’t seen, kid. Xanathar’s watching, right? Something vaguely complimentary?” the halfling guessed and with that Catra relented, feeling a mixture of relieved and deflated. The woman held up the note to the flame beside her and the outline of what she guessed was a sun appeared. “Alright, this one’s real. Now you’ve got my attention. Where’d you get it?”

“My home’s thieves’ guild,” Catra answered simply as she reached for the note. The halfing handed it back over with no resistance. 

“And where’s that?” Catra hesitated again, but a few beats of waiting were filled with silence as the two women held each other in intense stares. “Fair. Good instincts too. Come up with a fake answer next time, though. People are put off by silence. Have you got a name? I’ll start. Mine’s Topaz.” 

Topaz held out her small hand and Catra took it, “Catra. What is this? Some kind of interview?”

The halfing chuckled to herself as she flipped through the journal, trying to find a certain page. “An interview, cute. The long and short of it is they like drawing in young blood. Finding hidden talent in, well, wherever it is you came from and beyond.” 

“I’m, what, one of hundreds,” Catra frowned as she considered the implication. 

“First one I’ve seen in a few months. Though it’s not always me,” Topaz shrugged, continuing to search through her book, she finally found a page and ripped it out carefully. “Okay, here’s how this is going to work. What I’ve got here is an opportunity.” She handed over the paper to the tabaxi to analyze.

“All I have to do is get this thing back from some kobolds, and I’m in?” Catra asked, bewildered at the apparent ease. “Seriously?”

“Of course not,” a new voice said with a laugh. A dwarven woman took a seat next to Topaz. 

“This is private,” Catra couldn’t hide her annoyance at yet another distraction. 

“And this is Lonnie, she’s a part of my crew,” Topaz explained as she gestured over at Catra. “Lonnie, Catra.” 

“Hi, Catra,” Lonnie offered but did not extend her hand. “Take it from me, say no to sailing with this one. Terrible idea. Looks like you’ve got some solid ground work there though.”

“She just is worried I’ll replace her as first mate. Anyway, as she was saying, no, it’s not that simple as bringing the item back, but it’s a start. If you’re not up for it, you’re welcome to walk away,” Topaz held her hand out as though she was expecting the paper back. 

Catra instead folded the paper up and placed it along with her original note back in her pocket, “Anything else you need from me?” 

“I collect a fee,” Lonnie started before being elbowed by Topaz. 

“Kyle,” the captain shouted across the room. The blonde man popped back up over the bar and looked intently. “Get your sea legs ready. I’m in need of a first mate.” He looked so enthused right up until he loosened his grip on a glass too much and it crashed to the ground. “Nevermind. Anyway, no, Catra, you’re welcome to go and we hope to see you again. Might be someone else next time if we get that boat fixed.”

Lonnie scoffed and followed with, “Yeah, we’ll see you soon.”

\----

Finally, after hopping and sprinting her way back, Catra arrived once again at the Drunken Firefly. ‘Don’t know why I’m in such a hurry’ she thought to herself as she contemplated breaking it to Adora that she wouldn’t be joining her on her big quest. She normally didn’t care about how she made others feel, much less practical strangers. ‘Getting too soft,’ she scolded herself. 

When she opened the door to the tavern she was met with a much more lively scene than she left. Nearly every seat in the house was full, with extras having been added around a stage on the other side of the bar. Over the general clamor of the place her superior ears managed to make out, “Hey Catra! Catra! Over here!” She continued further in and finally caught sight of the source of the noise-- a presumably lightly intoxicated Adora leaning out of a curved booth near the stage. She couldn’t hold back the smile seeing that goofy face brought her. Once she reached the booth she started to sit down across from the paladin but it was not possible. Two similarly goofy faced strangers were gazing up at her in her spot.

“Oh my gosh, Adora, you didn’t tell me your friend was soooo cute,” the male of the duo shouted up at her, alcohol dripping off his breath. “CAT, TRA, right? Because you’re a cute kitty. Oh sorry, I’m being rude. I’m Bow and this is Glimmer.” The pink haired halfling beside him gave a little wave. 

Catra’s face changed instantly, and she began preparing an excuse to go right to bed despite sleeping almost the entire afternoon away. She looked over to Adora who gave her an apologetic smile and patted the empty space beside her. 

“I got you dinner,” Adora offered, pulling the cover off of a plate of still steaming food. 

“Least you could do.” Catra sat down and stared into Adora’s eyes as she asked coldly, “Old friends?”

“New adventuring buddies,” Glimmer piped up enthusiastically. “Bow and I were going to do the same quest as you two! So now, we’re all in.” 

“Wooo! First quest!” Bow shouted as he presented the notice ceremoniously. Glimmer gave him a pointed look at his outburst. In return he immediately picked up his glass of water and began drinking as she nodded approvingly. 

Catra watched the spectacle of the opposing duo as she ate and thought. This made things easier, she reasoned. At least she wasn’t going to be alone.

“Hey, Adora,” she said quietly, trying to not engage with the other two, “About the quest… I don’t think I’m going to be able to help. I’ve got other work---”

“Better work than 200 gold each,” Adora interrupted her. “Come on, Catra. This is the one! We picked it out together.” 

Catra sighed before she confessed, a word not typically in her vocabulary, “I didn’t even really _read_ it, Adora.” 

“YE ADVENTURERS,” Bow started in a grand voice as he held out the notice again. He lowered his tone as he continued after feeling another death stare from his friend. “Some stuff, some stuff… 800 gold! If you can return this precious magic item to its rightful owners. All interested will be well met in Oakhurst by Mayor Leng.” 

Catra raised an eyebrow, “That some stuff. Anything about kobolds?” 

“Oh.. hmm,” Bow said as he squinted at the page, “Nope. But there’s a kobold den near Oakhurst. My dads taught me about it…” He tried to focus. “The uh.. Sunken Chimera… no, Come on, Oghma. Don’t fail me now.” 

“The Sunless Citadel,” Catra finished for him.

“I was so close,” Bow said as he leaned in on his elbows. “You’re so smart, Catra. You’ve gotta come with us. Right, Glim?” 

“Uh huh,” Glimmer answered enthusiastically, “Nothing rounds out a party like a good bard.” Seeing the apparent rage build in her mismatched eyes she walked it back, “Or um.. You’re not exactly built like a fighter.” 

Catra reached behind her back and pulled out the dagger she had hidden in the blink of an eye. She angled it demonstratively towards Glimmer, “I do fine, Tiny.” 

“She’s great, right? So fast and sneaky,” Adora laughed awkwardly and pushed down on Catra’s arm until she finally put the dagger back away. Once she did, the paladin gestured towards the half-elf, “Bow’s a ranger.”

“No, no fucking way,” Catra said as she started cackling. “I’m sorry. Your name is _Bow_ and you’re a _ranger_?! Did you change your name to match or did your parents decide your whole life?”

Bow giggled to himself as he put his arms up miming an invisible bow and arrow, “More like knew my fate! To be the world’s greatest archer!” 

“Uh huh, and, Sparkles, you must be…” before she got her guess out, Glimmer stopped her. 

“I’m a sorceress,” she supplied proudly then started to work into her hands while whispering some arcane words to herself. In the center of the table a minor illusion appeared of a domestic cat that looked rather similar to Catra chasing a mouse. “I do fine.”

“Remember last week when you cast something and then you got a feather beard right after?” Bow started laughing, “Show them that! Make that picture!”

Catra looked wide eyed from Bow over to Glimmer who had fallen from pride to embarrassment. “Wild magic? This just gets better and better. Listen, Adora, don’t go with these people. You’re going to get hit with a fireball after she casts a rinky-dink spell thinking she’s helping.”

“Huh, wild magic. Never heard of it,” Adora commented casually then set her gaze on Catra. “Sounds like we need someone smart to come along and plan for these things, don’t you think?”

“Ugh, fine,” Catra relented. If her hunch was right, they were going to the same place anyway. No better way to mislead the competition than pretend to be on their side, right?

A hush fell over the crowd (even Bow) as a mysterious gust of wind blinked out all of the candles and lanterns. The darkness was lifted as dancing orbs of light appeared above and around the small stage where now five goblins stood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Sunless Citadel is a real DND module that I am taking some inspiration (and plenty of creative liberties) from for these sweet adventurers on their first quest. 
> 
> DND Fun Fact for the New Adventurer: Explanation of Wild Magic: Starting when you choose this origin at 1st level, your spellcasting can unleash surges of untamed magic. Once per turn, the DM can have you roll a d20 immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table to create a magical effect. If that effect is a spell, it is too wild to be affected by your Metamagic, and if it normally requires concentration, it doesn’t require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration.
> 
> Some of these effects are fun and silly (feather beard is real!), others are helpful (randomly regaining health), and others are well... why Catra is so pissed (casting fireball centered on yourself, which tends to get you and your buddies.... or, less serious but still inconvenient, you turn into a potted plant for a round). 
> 
> Oh! Also. I promised character sheets. Enjoy. There are still a lot of things I've got to fill in. This is *mostly* so I don't mess up what they should be able to do at their levels. OG Best Friend Squad are all level 2. Catra's level 3, because.. she's Catra, come on (jk.. there are also plot reasons).  
> [Adora](https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/44419440/XseUEt)  
> [Catra](https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/44419346/O6hc2P)  
> [Bow](https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/44477725/OZMw4k)  
> [Glimmer](https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/44476131/IlhBt8)  
> 
> 
> Also I make no apologies for drunken Bow. In my heart of hearts, he's a woo girl and the most fun to have around.
> 
> Oh! And, for visual sakes, this is Topaz, an OC from my personal dnd games/lore. Art by the amazing Alice Haun  
> 


	5. Enthrall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Best Friend Party enjoy a show. A hot bard makes eyes at one of the party members. Weird magic stuff is discussed in terms that people more affluent in Dungeons and Dragons lore might call a ridiculous misinterpretation of magic. Bow has an existential crisis. Catra uncanny dodges one. Glimmer would like to rage, but, tragically, she is not a barbarian. Adora is aloof and a bit sad, but the glory days for her are coming as sure as the morninglord's light in the morrow.

Catra’s eyes darted around the crowd who seemed unbothered by the sudden appearance of goblins on the stage. Even Adora looked positively entralled, perhaps having learned her lesson with Christoff. Satisfied with the utter acceptance by all of the whole affair, she loosened back up and turned her attention back to her dinner. 

“Awww, look at their little costumes,” Bow whispered as he stared out at the goblin troupe. 

Each one of them had a unique look that was reminiscent of some kind of adventurer — barbarian, bard, cleric, ranger, and a druid. A sweet and soothing melody rang out through the room, and the goblins began to dance. In an instant one of the orbs of light found a new home over a seated half-elf woman on the side of stage who was the source of the music. She was dressed in a fine blue and golden gown, matching gold ribbon wrapped through her long braid of red hair. She gracefully plucked the strings of a small golden harp, swaying slightly to the music and keeping her eyes on the goblins. She rose her eyebrows at the one that appeared to be dressed as her strange miniature. The bardic goblin took to the center stage. 

“This evening, we shall perform for you a harrowing tale of giants and woe,” the goblin’s small voice rang out in the tavern accompanied by a dark and foreboding tune from the harp. 

And so the performance began in earnest. Even Catra couldn’t help herself from glancing over occasionally and watching in wonder as the troupe danced and delivered their lines. While the acting merits of the goblins would give critics plenty to write about, no one in the crowd could doubt their commitment. The half elven woman sang the narration of the tale with ease weaving in out of the dialogue seamlessly. All while she played along. Occasionally, arcane effects burst into the scenes to oos-and-aws in the crowd. 

Glimmer and Bow were propped up on their elbows staring lovingly between the small actors and the bard. The former whispered, “I vote we get a bard. A hot bard.” Bow nodded affirmatively while Catra rolled her eyes and Adora kept watching the show off in her own world. 

Towards the end of the performance, the dancing lights spread out into the crowd floating and darting their way between tables. One settled just above the curved booth of the newly formed party. They looked up at the light for a moment, then Bow let out a small gasp as he leaned in across the table. 

“Hot bard is looking at you, Catra!” Bow, also a master of the whisper yell, exclaimed.

“She’s probably looking at you and wishing you’d stop interrupting,” Catra whispered back at him, and took her last big bite of meat. She glanced over to the stage and immediately realized she was, in fact, directly in the eye line of the bard. Frustratingly enough, she even winked once she noticed Catra was meeting her gaze.

“Maybe she’s mad because you ate all during the performance,” Adora offered an alternative explanation she preferred. “Kind of rude, don’t you think?”

Finally the lights shifted in the room again and back solely focused on the goblins. Not even the half elf could be seen. A cacophony of the goblins voices, all singing now lyrics designed to their character, rang out and then they settled into one note, one last word together, “Rest.” They joined hands and bowed as the crowd leapt to their feet in a roaring applause. 

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to kill another goblin,” Adora commented as she finally took her seat back down next to Catra, one of the few audience members declining to participate in the ovation. 

“If we see one tomorrow, don’t expect it to be singing a song,” Catra swung her arm back and gestured at the stage, “They’re probably charmed. That’s all bards do anyway. Fuck with people’s heads.”

“Yeah, Catra, like Hot ba-” Glimmer stopped as she noticed just over Catra’s shoulder the half elven woman had appeared and smiled.

“I promise they aren’t charmed. They were merely given a choice and an opportunity despite mistakes they made,” the redhead explained as she stepped further up to be able to look at all four of them. “Amazing isn’t it? The leader of the troupe plays our barbarian. Makes more in a weekend here than many city officials I know make in a month. I think that’s quite a deal.” 

Adora was looking up the bard with a gleam in her eyes, “Redemption. So beautiful.” 

Catra scoffed to herself and looked up at the bard, “And all the goblins that didn’t want to join your little show?” 

The redhead shrugged, “We all make choices, darling.” Bow and Glimmer exchanged wide eyes. “Speaking of, could I steal you away from your friends here for a quick drink and chat?”

“No, thank you,” the rogue answered quite quickly and definitively. 

Seemingly unbothered the bard looked at the rest of them with a pleasant smile and said, “Thank you for enjoying our show.” She did a little graceful bow and made her way to the edge of the bar where Christoff met her with a glass of wine. 

“CATRA,” Glimmer scolded her. “What part of **hot bard** do you not understand?” 

“What, I’m not interested? Is that so hard to believe?” The tabaxi shrugged and looked over her shoulder at Adora who was looking rather conflicted in the moment. 

“Maybe she just wanted to talk to you and be your friend. I mean, who wouldn’t? You’re so unique, smart, and… ” Adora offered before she let her voice die off. 

“Go get a free drink with the nice lady,” Bow pleaded, edging over into the unnecessarily emotional stage of having drank too much, “Do it for me. Do it for **the team.** Maybe she’ll inspire you with some magic and you’ll be able to find the thing tomorrow! Whatever it is.”

“Guys, cut it out,” Adora yelled now very clearly flustered, “Leave Catra alone. Why don’t you go sit with the hot bard if you’re so interested?!” 

Catra smirked to herself as she got up and looked down at Adora, “He’s going to cry.” She gestured at Bow who nodded and looked up at her pitifully. “Cuts right to my heart. I can’t be responsible for these grown adult tears.” 

And so the tabaxi headed down to the end of the bar, swaying her hips and taking one last peek back to see if they were still watching. She popped up into the stool beside the bard who gave her a warm smile. 

“About that drink,” Catra started, “If that choice is still on the table.” 

“Certainly. I’m Cassia, by the way,” she held out a hand and they exchanged a simple handshake. “And who might you be?”

“Catra, and I’m not against all bards. Not on principle or anything like that. My acquaintances over there were being so annoying,” she explained sheepishly, struggling in all her normal bravado to meet the green eyes of her newest acquaintance. 

“No hard feelings,” Cassia offered as she waved for the werebear bartender. He gave a hand gesture back and turned her attention back to Catra, “Might be a moment on that drink. I think he’s pretty well tied up over there.” 

Catra watched the flurry of orders coming in from the patrons at all sides of the bar as well barmaids, “Gotta drink away the bad thoughts after you’ve made them question their whole societal views, right?” 

The bard smirked as she watched the onslaught as well, “Could run a drink special and say it’s been blessed by the goblin gods and they’ll forgive them for their prejudice for only one gold each. By the end of a show’s run, the tavern would have a tenth of the gold in Waterdeep no doubt.” 

“I like the way you think. Anyway, no reason we can't have this little chat while we wait. Why’d you want to talk to me, your least interested audience member? And what was with the staring?” Catra wasted no more time getting to the point. She merely had come over to further get a rise out of her friends. 

“Ah well,” Cassia laughed to herself and took from the empty stool beside her the harp she’d laid down. “Do you know bardic magic works in comparison to others? Aside from the, fucking with heads part, as you so eloquently put it?” Catra shook her head no, and so Cassia began to demonstratively pluck on the harp, “Divine magic, the gods grant you. Wizards study. Sorcerers are born with magic in their blood. Even still every day there are other ways we mortals find to tug at the weave from time to time, but bards… I play and feel the weave as easily as I do my instrument. And Catra… I felt something unusual in the weave around you, even from the stage.” 

Catra had been sitting and giving her best attempt at a neutral look but once she got to the end she scrunched up her face and explained, “Probably just my birth. It's a whole big thing that really isn't anything.” 

“I thought that might be it as well, but you’re not the first half-tabaxi I’ve ever met,” Cassia commented to an incredibly surprised Catra. “Spent a good amount of time in Chult in my early days. Lots of travelers coming and going, falling in love with the gorgeous locals, wanting to start families. Many bargains struck with old and new gods. I've never noticed this feeling before,” she explained as she reached out and traced a pattern on Catra’s right shoulder, “And, even stranger, I never saw one with this.” 

Catra flinched away from the unexpected touch and the bard took her hand back quickly. 

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Cassia pulled from underneath the neckline of her gown a simple bronze pendant hanging on a black leather rope. On the front side, the stern imprint of a bear. She flipped it and showed the back, a perfect match to the pattern on Catra’s shoulder. “Tell me about your life’s maze, Catra. Have you solved it? I’m still working on mine.”

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t care that much about all this mystical nonsense. I heard enough of it growing up, and I let it all go as soon as I could. There’s nothing I can pass on for your songs or plays or whatever.” 

Cassia paused in deep thought and put the necklace back away again. “Catra, this isn’t research. As I said, I felt compelled in a way to know you. Thank you for allowing me to chat with you,” Finally Christoff had made his way down to the end of the bar. Cassia gave him a knowing smile and said, “This one can have whatever she likes while she stays here.” 

Catra looked confused and to the werebear for confirmation, but he seemed to be no help. “Are you sure about that? I could stay here forever. The owners will take all your goblin money.” 

“By all means,” Cassia gave a final wink as she finished her own glass of wine and hopped down from the stool. She leaned in close to one of the tabaxi’s ears and whispered in a language Catra had only heard at home, primordial, “The maze entraps us, but it also holds the promise of freedom.”

Once she was out of earshot Catra looked at the werebear, “She always this weird?” 

“Eh, I like her the most out of the bunch that own this place,” he commented as she watched Cassia slip down a hallway. “Breaks stuff the least. Anyway, did you want something?”

“Wait wait. She co-owns this place,” Catra asked. Christoff nodded. “And she said I could have _whatever_ I want and it’s on her.” Another nod. “Perfect. I want the most expensive drink you have.”

“That’ll take some doing, but I’ll bring it over when it’s finished. You really ought to get back over there. The little one’s trying to kill crop top based on all the commotion.” 

Catra looked over and saw, sure enough, the halfling was standing on the bench of the booth glowering down at Bow. “Thanks, big guy. I wouldn’t want to miss the second show of the night.”

\---

“Calm the fuck down, Bow. You’re being ridiculous in front of our new friend,” she looked over at Adora who had laid her head down on the table. “See! She’s not going to want us in her party anymore and we’ll never, ever leave Waterdeep.”

“It’s fine, Glimmer,” Adora mumbled. “If he wants to cry, let him cry.”

“The goblins, glim! I liiiied about my fate. My dads wanted me to work at the Font of Knowledge like them. Instead I got someone in the city watch to teach me to shoot… and do you know what the wood targets were painted to look like?!” Bow raised his hands up high as though asking the heavens, but instead a mere mortal answered.

“I’m guessing goblins,” Catra said as she appeared back at the booth and passed a hand over Adora’s back once she sat down. “You okay there, ‘Dora?”

“Oh, hey, Catra,” Adora answered as casually as possible as she sat back up. “I’m totally fine… really good. Tired's all” 

Glimmer gave up on Bow and sat back down on the bench, eyeing Catra with interest, “How was it? Did she serenade you?”

“No, thankfully. It wasn’t a come on thing, anyway. Magic people like that always have a million questions about what I am, like we’re not sitting in a place where a werebear has become my favorite bartender of all time."

“Oh good. Ya know, that she wasn’t trying to...I mean, bards, am I right?” Adora stumbled through her words but seemed more awake than she had been moments before. 

“No, Adora, she wasn’t trying to get me to fuck her,” Catra said matter-of-factly, which made Adora turn redder than she had seen her yet. “You are so easy!” 

Adora narrowed her eyes before she decided on sufficient retaliation. She moved in really close to Catra’s ear and whispered in a sultry voice, “What did she whisper to you before left then, Carry Through the Air? Care to share?” 

“Gah! Could everyone just stay out of my personal space,” Catra shouted as her face began to match Adora’s. 

Faerun’s best bartender appeared by the booth with a glass that glowed in his hand. Even Bow stopped from his crying to stare at it with shiny eyes. 

“Boss has some kind of funny name for this, but damned if I remember. Been a long time since anyone ordered one,” Christoff explained as he sat down the drink in front of Catra. “It’s a lot of booze and something she and the druid made up called arcane infusions. Pace yourself, kid.” 

Catra nodded dumbly but her eyes were stuck on the drink that sat before her. It was glowing a brilliant purple color. From the rim of the glass it seemed like little points of light, like shooting stars, were leaping from the drink and onto the table.

“I’m not sure if you should drink that,” Adora warned as she eyed the beverage. “Seems unnatural.” 

“It’s the most expensive drink they make. It can’t kill me if only rich people can get it normally. The law loves rich people, they’d get shut down.” Still, she hadn’t moved to touch the drink yet. The purple color began to shift into something more blue toned as it shimmered. 

“I’m with Adora,” Glimmer said as she brought her face down to stare at the drink as intently as Catra was. “I don’t know what kind of magic this is. You can’t just be--”

Glimmer stopped herself as she watched Catra’s distorted face on the other side of the glass light up with a smirk. The tabaxi defiantly downed the entire beverage as the other two women looked on in horror and shouted in unison, “Catra!” 

Bow… snored as he laid back in the booth, having passed out immediately after seeing the beverage. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bards, am I right?  
> Cassia is another OC from my personal DND games. Art again by Alice Haun.  
> 
> 
> [ Gaze Upon Your Life's Maze](https://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070410001951/forgottenrealms/images/d/d0/Ubtao_symbol.jpg)


	6. Cat's Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora deals with magic drunk Catra. That's it. That's the chapter.

Catra looked back and forth between the two anxious women with a grin on her face. “See, not dead. I’m fine. Quit being so dramatic,” she declared and then started her unique little laugh, seeming entirely unphased. Only, she kept laughing louder and louder while shaking with the effort of it all.

“Adora,” Glimmer whispered as she leaned across the table to her, nearly laying on it due to her small frame, “This isn’t normal for her right?”

Before Adora could answer, Catra reached out and scooped Glimmer up by her waist, “Fucking back it up, wild magic,” she growled at her as the halfling began kicking her legs uselessly.

“Put me down right this second or--” Glimmer threatened as she began to work her hands in practiced movements while Catra dangled her. 

“Catra, please,” Adora said as she put a hand on her shoulder.

With that, the tabaxi moved her to the side and dropped her down unceremoniously by the booth. Glimmer managed to catch her footing and scowled at Catra while she straightened out her purple robes. 

“WHY ARE YOU GLOWING,” Catra’s eyes grew wide as she stared down Glimmer. She pushed Adora further back into the booth defensively, “She’s gonna burn this whole goddamn place down. Get away from us!”

Adora leaned out from behind her and looked at Glimmer, who was decidedly -not- glowing but looking more pissed and confused than ever. “Everybody stay calm, okay? No one is glowing. I think this is just the drink talking. Right, Catra,” she asked hopefully, placing her hand on her again as it seemed to calm her before. 

Catra looked over her shoulder at Adora, seemingly less frantic but her gold eye was twitching. The paladin rubbed and said soothingly, “See, we’re fine. Glimmer isn’t exploding into fire, right?”

“Not yet,” Glimmer huffed before she climbed back up into her seat to gently smack Bow on the face to wake him up, “We’re leaving.”

Catra began spewing more curses and tried to leap over at the sorceress but was held back by the paladin as she quickly grappled her. 

“Whoa, kitty’s mad,” Bow noted as he came back to consciousness. 

“Sorry, you guys,” Adora offered apologetically, Catra still trying to wiggle out of her arms, “I think calling it a night is probably for the best. We’ll see you in the morning though, right?”

“Of course. We’ll meet here for breakfast or… brunch,” Glimmer affirmed as she grabbed Bow’s hand and dragged him out of the booth with her, “Drunken idiots aside, this was fun. If she’s still like this tomorrow though...”

Still flailing but ultimately failing to escape Adora’s strong grasp, Catra tilted her head back and licked the paladin’s neck. Adora shrieked and momentarily loosened her grip enough that the tabaxi wiggled her way out and was soon standing in front of the other duo. Adora scrambled after her, but before she could land a hand on her the tabaxi already lunged at Bow. 

“Don’t you let her hurt you, buddy,” Catra wailed into his shoulder as she held him in a too-tight-for-comfort hug. 

Bow began crying again as he returned the hug with the same level of intensity. Adora and Glimmer exchanged a look that could only be described as relieved disbelief with a sprinkling of exasperation. 

“Hey, Catra,” Adora said cautiously as she came up beside them, not wanting to cause her to lash out in surprise, “I think Bow needs to go home and get some sleep so he can feel better. Okay?”

Catra nodded and let him go after giving another pointed glare at the sorceress. Glimmer managed to bite back her desire to continue to escalate the situation, and began leading Bow out by the hand as he looked back, waving emphatically at the other two. Once they were out of the building, Catra turned back around to Adora and grinned manically. She grabbed her hand and began dragging her behind her as she ran through the halls of the inn. 

“Catra, slow down,” Adora said to no avail, “We’re staying upstairs, remember?”

Ignoring that, the tabaxi dragged them right past the turn for the stairs and seemed like she was searching for something. Her ears and nose twitched until she brought them to a full stop in front of a door.

“This isn’t your room,” Adora warned but all the same Catra swung it open wide. The small room was lit only by the blue glow of some arcane runes on the ground in the shape of a circle. Catra started to step in, but Adora intervened once more, dragging her back. “Catra! You’re going to get us killed. Stop it!”

“Not gonna kill us, dummy,” Catra explained, momentarily shifting into her usual sarcastic but calm demeanor with a slight slur, “It’s a teleportation circle. You really don’t know _anything_ about magic.”

“Maybe, but we have no idea where it leads and it’s not for us, so can we please not,” Adora pleaded, starting to wonder if she should’ve asked Glimmer to stay to help. The frustration of it all was bringing tears to her eyes. As soon as Catra noticed, she immediately softened.

“You’re right, Adora,” she whimpered and allowed herself to be led out of the room. 

Adora couldn’t help but chuckle at that, “You will never believe you said that tomorrow.”

Catra’s demeanor shifted again as she started her uncontrolled laughter while they headed down the hall and up the stairs. By the time Adora got them to her room, she had stopped and stood looking blankly forward while waiting on the door to open. 

“Okay, tell me where your key is and I’ll take it out for you,” Adora asked as she moved behind her and started to reach into her bag. 

Catra immediately whipped away from her and put her back to the wall. “Don’t touch my stuff! Nobody touches my stuff,” she growled, then seeing Adora become afraid, immediately relaxed again before bragging, “Who needs keys anyway.” With that she extended her claws and began fiddling with the locking mechanism on the door before opening it with ease, “Ta-da!”

“Wow,” Adora commented as she processed the whole scene, “I don’t know if I should be impressed or scared.” 

Catra started a new round of maniacal laughter as she strolled into the room and collapsed onto the bed. Adora cautiously followed her in and took a quick survey of the room to make sure nothing seemed to be dangerous to leave with her. Meanwhile, Catra’s laughter shifted down to simple giggles while she rolled around on the bed. 

“Having fun there,” Adora teased once she noticed and came to stand over the bed. 

“I don’t know, why don’t you try,” Catra dared her before swinging one of her feet behind Adora’s knees and causing her to buckle and fall onto the bed beside her. 

“If I do, will you calm down and sleep this off,” Adora pleaded as she sat up on the bed. Catra nodded. 

And so she gave in. After a few seconds, she found herself giggling too as Catra teasingly swatted at her with her tail and began what she thought was purring. Do tabaxi’s purr, Adora wondered, but resolved not to ask in her unpredictable state. 

“Hey, take your gross boots off,” Catra ordered suddenly. 

“I would’ve already if you didn’t knock me down.” Adora sat up and began to untie her boots. As she glanced over at Catra’s feet, she realized something she had not yet noticed. “You don’t wear shoes.”

It was true. The tabaxi’s feet were bare aside from cloth that went from the center of her foot to her leggings like a stirrup. She scoffed, “Humans! Why would I wear shoes when I can do this?” She stood up on the bed suddenly and hopped on the mattress once before launching herself to the nearest wall. Fortunately (or, unfortunately, depending on one’s perspective), instead of smacking herself against the wall into unconsciousness, she hung onto it easily as she dug in with all of her claws. “Pretty cool, right?” she bragged as she started climbing up the wall. 

“The coolest,” Adora affirmed, “But hey, I held up my part of the deal. Get down and go to sleep.” 

“Oh Adora,” Catra taunted her as she dug her claws on her hands into the ceiling before swinging to add her feet too, “I lied. That’s what I do.” She made her way across the ceiling before she let go with her hands, hanging upside down in front of the only window in the room. “Oooh, this is a good spot. I could go roof to roof and I bet I’d get to the ocean before I’d have to touch the ground!”

She started to tug at the window frame before Adora came over, smacked her hands away, and used her body to block the prying claws. “No, not happening,” Adora said firmly as she crossed her arms, “You’re trying to open the window the wrong way. Do you really think trying to jump rooftops is going to end well right now?!”

“Oh, ha. Forgot I’m upside down,” Catra explained before flexing her feet to let go. Before she had a chance to hit the ground, Adora caught her as she expected, “My knight in shining armor.” 

Adora’s capacity for finding any amusement in these shenanigans was dangerously low by this point. She made no extra commentary as she carried Catra back and put her in bed. To make her point further, she tucked her in under the blankets. Catra appeared to be compliant, yawning and stretching but otherwise still. 

“Okay. Now that we’re calm. Do you have any water in here? And may I get it for you?” Adora asked as soothingly as possible.

“Mmmmmm,” Catra hummed to herself in thought, “Nope. Water’s empty. I’ve got booze though.” She leaned over and picked up her backpack from where she had dropped it.

“Catra, no!” Adora commanded, “No more booze, okay?” The tabaxi nodded and looked sheepishly up at her. “I’m going to go and get my waterskin for you.”

She got up from the bed and began to start out the door. Catra whined as soon as her hand hit the doorknob. “No, stay, please.”

“I’ll be right back, I promise,” Adora assured her with a smile, “And I’ll even stay in here all night if you want.” This seemed like a good plan, she reasoned, because she had no other way of preventing late night acrobatics. 

Catra gave no more protests. Once in her room, the paladin said a quick prayer to her god, wishing for safety for her friend and the wisdom to know what to do. She found her waterskin, locked her room back up, and headed back across the hall. Once she opened the door, she gasped immediately when she saw the bed and the room were both empty. The blankets and pillows were sprawled out on the ground below her. 

“Catra,” she called frantically. Before she could leave the room to check the hall, she was knocked onto the mildly cushioned ground as the tabaxi pounced on her from the ceiling. 

“Ha! Not built for fighting,” Catra declared proudly as she laid on top of Adora, “You tell wild magic about that tomorrow.” 

“Bed, please,” Adora begged. 

The tabaxi didn’t complain, she hopped back up to her feet and helped Adora to hers as well. She scooped up all of her bedding, made her bed perfectly, and then laid back down. She even dutifully downed some of the water that hadn’t spilled during her chaotic prank.

“What was in that drink,” Adora complained futilely as she laid down beside her. 

Catra screwed up her face in thought before reaching into her backpack and pulling out a short piece of copper wire. “I bet we can find out,” she said as she manipulated the wire in her hands then began speaking towards it, “Ey. We wanna know what’s in the sparkly magic drink Christoff made for me. Also, what makes your hair smell so good. You can reply to this message.” Her face went blank and Adora just laughed at the weird display. Catra nodded then stated simply, “Lavender oil.” 

“Oh, yes, I’m sure lavender is why you’re acting like this,” Adora said incredulously, “So since you're so open right now... how about you tell me your tabaxi name? Hmm?"

Catra replied back in a language that sounded like nothing Adora had ever heard before. Then she cackled and followed in common, "Trying to take advantage of a drunk person. Bad paladin."

The air in the room felt denser for a moment as with a flash of light, Cassia appeared carrying a large bag with her. She was dressed down from earlier in the evening, simply wearing a blue tunic and brown leggings. Adora jumped at her unexpected appearance. 

“My apologies, bit faster than running up from my suite,” the bard explained before she dropped down to the floor with the bag and started digging through it. 

“Hi, nice smelling bard lady,” Catra called out as she crawled down to the bottom of the bed to watch her, “Oooh, what’s all that.” She tried to reach down to mess with her, but the paladin was too quick for her this time.

“She’s going to be okay, right?” Adora asked hopefully, pulling Catra back and wrapping her into a bear hug. After only a couple of seconds the rogue stopped struggling and nestled her head into her neck, “What was that thing?”

“Oh, no worries, darling. Your partner will be fine in a few moments,” Cassia reassured her as she looked up briefly while taking out various vials, shaking her head, and digging further. “Nothing a little restoration magic can’t fix, but I unfortunately left my supplies at home. This is my friend’s, and she’s such a pack rat. I mean, honestly, who collects teeth?” 

“Oh no, she’s not my… uh.. Can’t you play a song or something really quick,” Adora pleaded as the tabaxi had started squishing her face for amusement. 

“Components,” Catra said as she moved Adora’s lips like she was the one saying it, “I’m Adora and I don’t know how magic works.” 

Cassia laughed while still searching through the bag, “She’s right. This one takes some diamond dust. I can’t believe she’s still conscious. That particular drink we formulated for someone like my husband, a half orc. Never supposed to be served to someone so small,” she gestured at the wall and ceiling where claw marks were evident, “ It’s supposed to help loosen one up faster without the draw back of a hangover, not make you literally climb the walls.”

“That explains things,” Adora noted, relaxing at more than one revelation. Catra started to try to push out of her arms again, “Can you do a quick spell to make her stop trying to escape at least?” 

“I highly doubt that layering even more enchantments on this poor dear is going to be in her best interest. I think you already possess the best assets for keeping her still,” the bard took a moment to look up and wink. Adora began to blush, but shifted her grip to make sure that the tabaxi wasn’t going anywhere. After another minute of silent searching, Cassia finally found what she was looking for. “Adora, I need you to help me because I think our friend here might decide not to cooperate.” 

“Anything,” Adora answered quickly.

“Hold out one hand,” Cassia instructed, and the paladin did as told. The bard removed the top from the vial and poured out the sparkling dust. “I’m going to play something, and when I start, I need you to sprinkle that in front of her face. Don’t let her move.” 

Adora nodded and pulled in tight on Catra with her free arm. With that, Cassia pulled from her belt a little panflute and played a somber sounding tune. Adora did as instructed, and instead of the dust falling to the ground it seemed to rush into her skin. Catra sneezed, blinked a few times, and smiled.

“That. Was. AMAZING,” Catra declared, “I have never felt so good in my life. Your deal’s still on right?”

“I think we’re going to need to modify that, darling. You can have everything free except this drink ,” Cassia offered before she started to pack up again, “Christoff and I need to revisit this policy. That was the Fire Storm formulation. Someone of your build shouldn’t be having more than the Faerie Fire.” She finished and slung the heavy bag back over her shoulder. “Now get some rest and stay off my walls, if you don’t mind.” With that, the air shifted again and the bard was gone. 

Adora realized she was still clinging onto Catra. She let go of her quickly with a laugh, “You are ridiculous. I can’t believe you’d want to do that again. I thought I was going to find you dead on the ground somewhere in the morning.”

Catra shrugged before crawling up to the top of her bed again. “It’s the quietest my mind’s been in a long time. I liked that.” 

“Just promise me you won’t try any more magic drinks without asking about them first, okay?” Adora smiled and got up from the bed. “Speaking of magic… what was with that little stunt you pulled?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Catra said simply, pulling her covers over her head, “You should get some sleep.”

Adora pulled the blanket back down to stare at her, trying to gauge for deception, “Come on. You did something weird with a wire and talked to her like it was nothing. I saw it! Are you secretly a wizard or something?”

“Oh, that was nothing. Anyone can learn a cantrip, even dummies like you,” Catra explained with a yawn, “Now can we please go to sleep? Gotta get ready for the big quest, right?” 

Adora kept squinting her eyes at her, and ultimately decided she didn’t know any better to argue the point. She took a few steps towards the door before looking back, “Um.. did you still want, I mean, need me to sleep in here?”

“If you don’t, it’ll make it easier for me to sneak out of here and leave you and your new weird friends behind,” Catra challenged.

Mind made up by such a threat, Adora locked the door in front of her and went about putting out the various lanterns that had lit the room. When she got back to the bed, the other woman had already scooted over to the other side of the bed. She laid down beside her and let herself start to drift off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this chapter felt like when my DM is just trying to get us to the next plot point, but we're too invested in our player character shenanigans to notice. 
> 
> (Also, as the critters out there know, all great arcane tricksters end their message cantrips with, "You can reply to this message")
> 
> Do we think this is the start of a great friendship for Bow and Catra? Or was this a "made a new best friend" in the bathroom at the bar type of friendship? Time will tell.
> 
> Also your alignment is default on the chaotic column if you’d drink a magical cocktail with no details about what it does. Discuss. (It’s me, I’m chaotic good)


	7. Alarm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party spends their morning in Waterdeep before heading off to do important hero stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone that has been supportive of the story so far! Reading comments on here and other places has made my heart so happy. I've spent a lot of time writing things that I don't really share with anyone, so it's nice to actually have a little audience.

Adora woke up from the best sleep she could remember since leaving home. Everything about the room seemed so cozy in her post sleep bliss. The recently risen sun was casting a warm light into the room. She and Catra had gone to sleep at opposite sides of the bed, but now her sleeping companion had rolled into her and was nuzzled into her side taking slow warm breaths against her. This is nice, Adora thought, it had been such a lonely couple of months traveling. Nice to have the warmth of someone nearby, someone she was finding herself drawn to more and more, someone who was pleasantly kneading at her chest while she was sleeping… _oh_ , Gods, oh no. 

She glanced over at Catra who was definitely asleep by every measure she could see. Should she say something? She didn’t mind the innocent intrusion on her personal space, but she was mortified knowing that it was unintentional and she could only imagine what an embarrassed Catra would be like if she woke up and realized what she'd been doing. Think, Adora, think. There had to be a way out of this without alerting her sleeping friend and risking her pushing her away over it. And so, having exhausted all of her mental energy on trying not to think about her new friend gently clawing at her chest, she decided on the only plan she could think of. She screamed.

Catra popped up to her feet on the bed like she’d just been splashed with cold water. She had a dagger at the ready that she pulled from absolutely no where as far as Adora was concerned. Her mismatched eyes scanned the room before looking down at the source of the scream.

“What is it,” she asked groggily, but still in her defensive position more or less straddling the paladin, “Is it invisible?”

“Oh, heh, sorry,” Adora said weakly from below, “Bad dream.”

Catra groaned and then dropped back down onto her side of the bed. “Why is it I don’t ever get to wake up naturally around you,” she complained as she cuddled back up under the blankets. She rolled over onto her side and looked at Adora with a softer face than she’d expected, “You alright? I get nightmares sometimes that ruin my whole damn day.”

Adora suppressed the urge to immediately admit she was lying and nodded instead, “I’m okay, it wasn’t too bad. Sorry about waking you up, do you want to sleep in a little more? I could go to my room."

“Nah, I’m okay. Between that nap yesterday and actually sleeping in a bed, I could almost pass for a morning person,” Catra rolled her shoulders and stretched as she sat back up, “Might as well seize the day or whatever dorks like you say.”

“Sounds good to me,” Adora decided to ignore the insult, “Glimmer said they’d be here for more of a brunchy time now though…”

“Well, we could go check out more of the city as long as you stop your relentless attack on the locals," Catra gave her a playful push on her shoulder.

“I can certainly try,” Adora said with a wink before she stretched and forced herself to get up from the warm bed. 

The two women packed up for the day and headed downstairs to the tavern portion of the inn. Christoff was once again manning the bar, but no other patrons were present in these early morning hours. He looked up at the two and had a pained look on his face when he saw them. 

“Sorry about the mix-up last night,” he offered to Catra once they reached the bar, “Like I said, it had been a long time since someone ordered one. Glad the boss could get you fixed up.”

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it, _I,_ for one, loved it,” Catra said with a smirk at Adora.

Adora rolled her eyes before turning her attention to Christoff with another one of her awkward smiles. She held out the key to her room and said, “We’re heading out later today. Thank you for everything.” She looked to Catra as if to remind her to get her own key out. 

The rogue crossed her arms and shook her head, “You can go ahead and scratch out that room from your book there. I’m not giving up my free-everything-spot in Waterdeep.”

Christoff just shrugged as he put away Adora’s key and made the necessary notations on his log book, “If you’re trying to call her bluff, you’ll find Ms. Bearheart would rather lose money than a game. I’ll put you down like a tenet for now.”

Catra tried to look neutral about it and nod like it didn’t mean much to her, but once they were outside in the street she looked at Adora with big excited eyes, “Can you believe it?! Ha! FREE. A free room for as long as I want in WATERDEEP.”

“You two must have really hit it off,” the paladin stated with some confusion in her voice. She stared into the other woman’s eyes pondering what exactly she’d missed in the two’s brief interactions that would warrant this arrangement. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like, Adora. I know what you’re thinking,” Catra offered with a wink to which Adora immediately began blushing, “I _guess_ you can stay with me when you’re in town and not on a holy war. You’ve been a decent roommate when you’re not screaming at or kicking me. So, what do you want to do this morning?”

“Thanks,” Adora gave an earnest smile, “I know it’s silly, but do you think we have enough time to go see the ocean?”

“City of Splendors and she wants to go stare at water,” Catra mused and started to head in the direction of the docks, though definitely the other end than she visited the day prior, “Let’s get going then, you’re back to being slow and loud.”

Adora followed clanking along as she went and struggled both to keep up with the tabaxi’s pace and to hide the fact that she was struggling. As they made their way down to stare at water, the paladin tried to make polite conversation to continue to drag out the rogue’s life story. Catra managed to dodge most questions and bounce them back onto the asker. She had subsequently learned that Adora had no siblings, was 21 years old, had never left her home before she started training with Mara, helped around the local temple, didn’t have very many friends growing up, and had learned most of what she knew about adventuring from books she had read as a teen. Adora learned that Catra was also 21. That was it.

The two sat on a little bench on the dock staring out at the sun sparkling over the ocean. There was some hustle and bustle of a couple of merchant ships preparing to depart, but otherwise it was rather peaceful. Adora smiled ear to ear while watching it all, “Growing up somewhere so small, it was hard to imagine how big and beautiful the rest of the world is.” Catra felt no need to provide snarky commentary, and instead let herself enjoy seeing the ocean through Adora’s eyes. It was endearing and a little cute to imagine that she got to be a part of her experiencing the world. 

After sitting in a comfortable silence for a while, Catra finally got up and offered a hand to Adora, “Ready to head back? I’ll lead the way so we can run without someone dying. Don’t want wild magic and Bow leaving without us, right?” The paladin took her up on the offer and only regretted it partially as her muscles strained from the weight of her armor. 

When they entered The Drunken Firefly, they were met with the sound of Glimmer in the midst of nagging at Bow who was holding his head in his hands. “Come on, it was three ales, you seriously can’t be this hungover.”

“I’m fine,” he whined as he rubbed his forehead. 

“Tiny, leave the man alone,” Catra commented as he took a seat beside the ranger, “I bet he’d feel better if he didn’t have to hear that voice of yours.” 

Glimmer scowled at her and quipped back, “Back to your usual charming self, I see,” Once Adora sat down beside her, she took a deep cleansing breath and gave her a smile, “We already ordered our breakfast, hope you don’t mind. Trying to keep him from passing out on the road.”

“I’m not that bad off, Glim,” Bow asserted and pulled himself back up with a smile, “Hi guys. Sorry about last night. Not a good first impression.”

“You were really fun aside from the crying part,” Adora assured him with a warm smile, “And hey, I bet Glimmer didn’t have to talk you down from the ceiling.” 

The other duo exchanged a confused look while Catra scrunched her face up and mouthed “shut up” at Adora. Before they had a chance to inquire about the remark, Christoff approached the table balancing four plates of food. “Went ahead and figured you two’d need something,” he explained as he placed the plates down. Three of the plates were the same: eggs, bacon, and a little toast. 

“Whatever they pay you, it isn’t enough,” Catra beamed up at the werebear as he sat down her plate which was steak and eggs with a sampling of various tiny pastries. The werebear laughed before he went back to his various duties around the tavern. Seeing Adora’s eyeing her plate with envy, she cut up some steak and slid it over to her plate with a particularly good looking pastry, “For your muscles or whatever.” Looking away from Adora’s thrilled gaze, she turned her attention to Glimmer, “So, you two ready to leave after this?”

“We’ve got to stop by to see Bow’s dads, but that’s on the way out,” Glimmer explained between bites. 

After the four were sufficiently stuffed and wondering if such a thing was a good plan for walking all day, they departed the inn and made their way down to the Castle Ward. Catra assigned herself once again to Adora protection duty as the human couldn’t take her wide steel blue eyes off the beautiful buildings rising up around them. Thankfully, no grabby amateur thieves or worse were paying them mind today. Bow brought them to a stop in front of what Adora was sure was the most elaborate temple she’d ever seen. 

“Alright, this should just take a few minutes. We already had the ‘talk’ about me going on a quest, thankfully,” he said with a sigh, “You guys should come if you want. They'll be excited to meet my new adventuring pals!"

Adora immediately started to follow him and Glimmer in, but the tabaxi hung back. She propped herself up against a pillar in front and kept her eyes out on the street in front of her. The paladin paused and looked back at her with hopeful eyes, “Hey, Catra, come on. I bet they’re nice.”

Anger flashed in Catra’s eyes for the first time all day and she said, “No, Adora. I told you, I don’t do religious stuff, not even if it's a glorified library. I’ll be fine. Try to keep ‘em moving. Some other group of idiots is going to beat us there.” 

The paladin nodded and then hurried to catch up to the other. She found them standing around a marble fountain with a massive statue of a scroll at its center. Bow looked over at her and waved his arm her way, “And this is our new friend, Adora! Adora, these are my dads! They work here at the Font of Knowledge."

A pair of ornately dressed priests, a human and an elf, turned to face her and gave her warm smiles. “A paladin of Lathander! Oh, our Bow, so smart to make friends with a healer. You’re going to take good care of him, right?” The elf, notably the taller and more energetic one of the two, declared as he walked over and hugged Adora, “My name is Lance and this is my husband, George.”

“Hello, Adora, pleasure to meet you,” George said calmly before turning his attention back to his son, “We don’t want to keep you long, but we wanted to give you something before you depart.” He pulled from a fold in his robes a smooth stone with a delicate carving of a face on it and handed it to bow. 

“Ha, yes! George’s brilliant idea,” Lance said as he pulled out the matching one from his robe, “Once a day, you can contact us if you need anything at all.” 

“Oh wow,” Bow said as he looked at the stone before clutching it to his chest, “My first magic item!”

His dads exchanged happy smiles and came up to wrap him in a family hug. “Now, remember. You only get 25 words before you are cut off. The magic isn’t strong enough for anything beyond that,” George explained, “Our Lord of Knowledge should help us provide answers to just about any query you all might have. And, should we need to, we can contact you once a day as well as long as you have the stone on you.” 

The two women simply stood in silence clutching their hands over their hearts at the loving family display. Adora felt tears building up in her eyes thinking about her own parents, but pushed the thoughts aside to focus on the journey ahead. Once the group hug was finished, they exchanged tearful goodbyes that positively ruined Adora’s resolve as even Glimmer was starting to sniffle beside her. When they reached the entrance Catra evaluated their tear covered faces and declared, “If everyone’s done crying, we really need to get going.”

And so, the four adventurers took their first steps towards what would be their first quest together, but certainly not their last. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adventuring! For **real** next chapter. Prepare yourselves for amateurly described combat, everyone.


	8. Hunter's Mark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our plucky adventurers are finally on the road to Oakhurst. We learn a little lore about Angella's role in this world. After a mostly uneventful day traveling, they make camp and Bow decides to try to hunt for the party. That goes well*.
> 
> *it does **not** go well. CW: description of mild violence, blood, slaying of a creature. This is the first but will be an ongoing theme as the story progresses, as is the nature of D&D. as much as I try to get my own DM to let me just play Chatting and Dragons, violence is inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are joining the party after they have spent their first hour traveling out of Waterdeep together.

“And that’s why my dads named me Bow,” the half-elf declared proudly as the conclusion to a long story. 

Catra tilted her head at him and raised an eyebrow, “Huh. Makes more sense than I expected.” 

“You know who also has a great name story? Catra,” Adora teasingly elbowed the tabaxi, “Why don’t you tell them all about it, Cautious Tranquility?”

Before she could be accosted further, Catra yanked the map out of Bow’s hand and sprinted ahead of the group while shouting, “What’s that, Adora? I can’t hear you while I’m up here scouting.” 

“Cautious Tranquility, interesting,” Bow commented while scratching his chin, “Her parents must have been surprised when she grew up.”

“That’s not actually it, I think anyway,” Adora admitted with a laugh, “She won’t tell me her tabaxi name or much of anything else too personal. She just has to be so frustratingly mysterious.” 

“Mysterious is certainly one word for it,” Glimmer noted with a flat tone. She kept her eyes forward watching Catra as though she were about to leave them behind entirely, “How long have you two been traveling together?”

“We met the day before we got into town. She’d probably kill me for saying this, but I found her unconscious on the road. She got attacked by some bandits. At first I thought she was already gone, but… I got to her in time, thank Lathander,” she clutched her hand over the symbol of Lathander she wore on her neck over her armor, “We hunkered down for the night, came into town together, and here we are.”

Bow raised his eyebrows as he looked rapidly between Catra in the distance and Adora by his side, “I would’ve guessed months at least. You two seem really close, it’s cute.” 

Adora blushed and brought her gaze down to the ground moving below her as she walked along, “It’s only cause I saved her, I’m sure. Probably feels like she owes me… which, she doesn’t! I was only doing the right thing.. It’s what I’d do for anyone I found like that not just,” she stopped her babbling there and decided to switch up the topic, “How long have you two known each other?”

Glimmer gave a knowing glance at Bow while Adora’s attention was elsewhere before she started, “We pretty much grew up together. With Bow’s dads working at the Font, and my mom…” Glimmer paused with a conflicted look on her face.

Bow finished for her with enthusiasm as he yelled, “Glimmer’s mom is _the_ Blackstaff! How cool is that? Glimmer doesn’t like to brag, because people can be kind of weird about it.” 

“That’s awesome! I mean, it sounds awesome. What’s..the Blackstaff? Christoff mentioned it at the tavern but I never got a chance to ask what it meant.” Adora looked forward and could practically hear Catra in her head teasing her about it, ‘Really, Adora, did you try to learn anything about Waterdeep before showing up to chase your destiny or whatever?’ With perfect timing, the tabaxi looked back, and she realized she wasn’t imagining it when she followed up with, ‘Don’t try to reply this time. Let’s keep this our little secret for now.’

“Um, helloooo, Adora?” Glimmer asked as she stood on her tiptoes to wave a hand in her face.. Or at least, in the vicinity of it. Adora blinked and returned her attention back to the duo beside her, and so the halfing started again, “Not to make a big deal about it, but the Blackstaff is basically the highest ranking magic official in Waterdeep. She leads the Blackstaff Tower, it’s mostly an academy for mage apprentices. We can go by when we get back if you want. My father was the Blackstaff before her, and he named her his heir before he died... ” 

Bow reached down and squeezed one of the halfling’s tiny shoulders with his hand and took over, “It’s really cool, Adora. We’ll definitely go by. Glimmer’s mom is kind of intense but she’s a genius with magic.”

‘Ooh, maybe you can get some magic lessons,” Catra’s raspy voice and laughter rang in her head, ‘That’s pretty cool though. Don’t you dare tell wild magic I said that.’

Adora giggled to herself and nodded, “Absolutely. I am sure Catra would be dying to go. She loves magic.” 

The trio carried on in more small talk as the afternoon began to slip away and evening was quickly approaching. Eventually Catra stopped in the middle of the road and waited for them to catch up, “We need to go ahead and make camp. Should get there by midday tomorrow.” Everyone agreed this was for the best and followed the tabaxi as she led them into the woods. Once they found a decent clearing, the party started to work on setting up the camp. Bow and Catra gathered up tinder for a fire. Adora went about dutifully setting up their sleeping arrangements, brushing away any errant rocks and making the best of their woodsy bedroom. 

“Ey, wild magic. You going to make yourself useful here?” Catra asked as she dropped off her last load of wood. Faster than she could think, a bolt of pure fire struck the middle of the wood and it all went up into flames. Catra launched herself back with a startled squeak. Bow tried his best to hide the joyous giggle he made at the unexpectedly cute noise. 

“Oops, sorry, should’ve warned you first. My magic is _so_ unpredictable,” Glimmer snickered.

Adora had rushed over by Catra’s side in case she was injured. Seeing that she was merely scared, the paladin put her hand on her shoulder and rubbed as she’d been doing the day prior. “Glimmer, can we agree not to use magic for jokes? Please?” Glimmer nodded apologetically. “Okay, so, how about dinner? We’ve got some rations but I didn’t know if you wanted to hunt for something, Bow.”

“Me? Hunt for something?” Bow questioned sheepishly. He fixed his face to his best attempt at a confident smile and then reached to grab the bow from his back, “Of course! I am **the** ranger. I will hunt and provide for my party!”

“Bow, you have never hunted in your life. Don’t go getting yourself hurt,” Glimmer pleaded as sat down on her bedroll. 

It was no use. **The** ranger was already heading out further into the woods, notably moving with grace and managing to make his steps nearly imperceptible to anyone but Catra. She also could hear his whispered pep talk he was continuing to give himself. She looked at Adora and shook her head, “I give him ten minutes and then I’m eating rations before we go drag his bloody body back.”

Bow went further and further into the woods, looking behind him as he went to make sure he could still get his bearings based on the light of the campfire. He found a pair of tracks that led him to a small creek where a large wolf was drinking. Once his eyes adjusted and he realized what he had been following, he drew a sharp breath and started to back away slowly. After a misplaced step a twig that clearly was made extra loud by a trickster god, the wolf went from serenely drinking to whipping its head back and snarling immediately. The ranger steadied himself, quickly took aim with his bow and took his first ever shot at a living target. The arrow zipped past the wolf, clipping one of its ears which only proved to make it angrier. 

“WOOOOLLLLLFFFFFF,” Bow screamed as he fled as fast as his feet would carry him back towards the camp. The beast took chase and was easily gaining on him. 

Catra was the first to catch his voice on the wind. She dropped the dried meat she was chewing on immediately and sprinted into the woods after shouting to the other two, “MOVE IT!” They popped up and hurried behind the tabaxi as best as they could. Her feline agility was on full display as she made her way towards the sound of Bow struggling. The other two could barely see her as she darted between trees.

Bow was on the ground with the wolf standing over him, snarling in his face while he pitifully whined. Once Catra caught sight of them, she cut to the side to hide amongst the trees before taking aim and tossing a dagger. It found its mark and lodged into the wolf’s side. The beast yelped in pain and looked around for the source of the strike. Finding nothing, it brought its head down and bit hard into Bow’s shoulder. 

Finally, Adora and Glimmer were able to make eyes on the scene. Glimmer shrieked at the sight, but immediately turned her horror into rage as she stopped and spoke some arcane words while whipping a warbling mass of magical energy in her hands. She hurled it to towards the wolf and as it moved through the air, the undefined magic settled into an arc of lightning. With another pained yelp and the smell of singed fur filling the air, the wolf collapsed onto Bow. 

“ADORA, GO! YOU HAVE TO HEAL HIM, PLEASE,” the halfling shouted at Adora. 

It was unnecessary, truly, as the paladin was already rushing down to Bow’s side. She placed her hands on him and called forth her divine connection to her god. The bite marks immediately began to seal themselves, leaving only the blood on his shoulder and shirt as a reminder. “Thanks,” Bow whimpered, “Can you get this thing off of me now please?” She rolled the beast off of the half elf and helped him to his feet. Now Glimmer finally caught up and wrapped her arms around him (well, being a halfling, it was more like a hug around the knees). 

“I TOLD YOU,” she shouted as she hugged him.

A grunt caught them all off guard as Catra yanked her dagger out of the wolf, wiping the blood off onto it’s gray fur. No one had even noticed her walk up. “And this is why we don’t run off by ourselves, kids,” she explained coldly before meeting eyes with Bow, “Ya alright there, arrow boy?”

“Yeah.” He bent down to return the halfing’s hug and sniffled, “I’m sorry guys. I’ll do better.”

“No worries,” Adora said as she patted him on the shoulder before realizing it was a terrible idea. She casually knelt down to the forest floor to wipe the ranger’s blood off onto the grass, “I’m sure you’ll get the next one! Catra’s right, we probably shouldn’t be going off on our own anyway. Let’s get back and enjoy some yummy rations, okay, buddy?”

He nodded solemnly and the four began to make their way back to their camp. Thankfully no creatures or people had wandered upon it during their brief, harrowing absence. When they reached the camp, Glimmer took Bow’s hand and led him over to his bedroll to sit down. “YOU JUST RELAX, OKAY? IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, I’M HERE, OKAY,” she offered in another round of shouts, “DO YOU WANT SOME RATIONS? I’LL GET MY SOME FROM MY BAG.”

Adora covered her ears during the clamorous kind words and looked over at Catra who was doing the same. The tabaxi mouthed “wild magic” at her. After another few minutes, everyone was settled again and Glimmer’s temporary magical affliction passed and she was able to speak at a regular volume. None of them were sure that yummy was the right word to describe the dried meats and hardtack they ate as they sat around in silence, but at least it wasn't fighting back. 

“Alright,” Catra got up from the fire and stretched with a yawn, “Why don’t you two take first watch and ‘Dora and I will do second. That way there’s always at least one person who can actually see the rest of the pack when they show up to kill us.” Glimmer and Bow were too flustered to make any argument even if they had one. 

Adora followed the rogue where she had set up their bedrolls. She started the struggle that is taking off all of her armor, and was surprised when she felt assistance lifting the large chest piece over her head. “Maybe you’ll luck out and we’ll find you some mithral,” Catra said once they had the piece off and Adora took the weight entirely from her to place it carefully on the ground. 

Once they were both down to their regular clothes, they settled down onto the bedrolls and Adora sighed, “This is even worse now that I remember what proper a bed is like.” Catra laughed and mumbled a sleepy, “Yeah.” 

The human laid staring up at the stars, thinking prayers to Lathander in gratitude for the blessing to heal her friend and wishes for the days ahead. Adora closed her eyes finally and nearly fell asleep before she felt something in her hair. She turned her head and realized that her sleeping companion’s arm was extended and her fingers had become intertwined with her golden locks. At the slight movement, Catra’s eyes blinked open and she pulled her hand back quickly.

“Sorry,” she whispered with a hint of shame in her voice, “It’s.. a thing I’ve done since I was a kid. I’d wake up holding all my stuff like it was going to run away. Not normally… a.. people thing…” 

Adora gave a reassuring smile, internally elated to learn a new piece of her past, “It’s okay, I don’t mind. You have to put up with my snoring and all.”

Catra relaxed again and gave a little weary grin, “Don’t remind me. Maybe a wish spell can fix that at least.” Adora reached over and playfully tousled her hair in retaliation as she said, “Sounds like a good use of the most powerful spell ever known.”

“Look at you. Knowing some magic. I’m so proud,” Catra yawned and snuggled back down to go to sleep. The human took this as a cue to do the same, and before long the rest of the world began to blink away as she felt a soft touch rest on her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually did a few real rolls for creating the round of combat on this. Most notably, on a D100 for Glimmer's wild magic using chaos bolt (since it's a leveled spell) got a 62. From the wild magic table: 61–62: For the next minute, you must shout when you speak. I stretched the minute a liiiitttle... poor Adora/Catra. I imagine Bow is used to these shenanigans. 
> 
> For note: I imagine that Bow and Glimmer have done no real world, real risk training. They've been working with simple wood targets as well as conjured fey creatures that Angella offered them at the Blackstaff. Hence poor Bow panicking over the wolf. Doesn't mean they're not good at what they do. It's just different. 
> 
> Next chapter should have our young adventurers actually getting to Oakhurst and finding out just exactly what this quest is all about.


	9. Augury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aw, the party's first watch. Baby steps. Adora becomes a leader. A quest is detailed and happily accepted. Impending betrayal is contemplated.

Bow was on his feet wildly whipping around at any hint of a noise. Meanwhile, Glimmer was sitting on a little log she had dragged over from the woods and watching him with a concerned look on her face. “You do know that isn’t necessary, right? Why don’t you relax? Between the two of us, I’m sure we’re fine,” she offered to him, trying to keep her voice soft so as to not wake their companions on the other side of the small campsite. Bow sighed and came to sit down beside her on the ground criss-cross applesauce style. With her elevation, it brought them fairly close to being eye to eye.

“I can’t believe I messed up so bad on the first day,” he whined in a whisper as he leaned his head onto her tiny shoulder. He gestured over at the sleeping area, “I let them down.”

“Bow, you heard Adora. She doesn’t think any less of you. Catra, she’d probably remind you that she had zero expectations to begin with, so you can’t disappoint her,” Glimmer joked as she leaned her head on top of his, “I believe in us. My mom wouldn’t have agreed that we were ready if we weren’t. You  _ know  _ how she is.”

Bow gave a quiet knowing chuckle at that, “I guess that’s true. Hey, you never mentioned. Did she give you anything cool from her vault to use?”

Glimmer made a little popping noise with her mouth before saying, “No, not exactly.” She dug into a pocket of her robes and pulled out a small pearl, “But I  _ doubt  _ she’s going to notice something so small.”

“Glimmer,” the ranger whisper yelled at her as he jerked away and stared at the pearl, “You  _ stole  _ from the Blackstaff! I don’t care that she’s your mom, that’s going to end badly. Please don’t tell her I knew.” His curiosity got to the best of him and he leaned in looking at the small item, “What is it?”

The sorceress rolled it in her hand, “It’s a Pearl of Power. You know how my magic is limited each day?” Bow nodded. “This can let me conjure a bit of power back and reuse it. I, for one, think it’s better out being used than collecting dust at the tower.” 

“That could definitely come in handy,” Bow conceded as he relaxed again and went back to leaning on the halfling, “I hope that Angella doesn’t teleport in and pop us back home over it. That’d be almost as embarrassing as what happened earlier.”

“Almost,” Glimmer giggled as she elbowed him. 

\---

Adora’s eyes scanned the area around her trying to make sense of where she was, but it didn’t match anywhere she’d remembered being before. Walls of sandstone made up a long hallway that ended in a juncture. What little light was present was provided by torches that were set into the walls. Vines crept in from cracks in the ceiling and sprouted bursts of bright blue and yellow flowers she couldn’t put a name to. As she slowly walked forward down the hall, she noticed her body didn’t feel quite how she expected either. Her strides were shorter. When she held out her hands, gone were the well worn calluses from her training. Instead, she was looking at soft little fingers. Experimentally she ran her tongue over the inside of mouth, and sure enough she noted the absence of a tooth that took the longest to grow in as a child. 

‘Don’t panic, Adora’ she told herself. ‘We’ll figure this out.’ She slowly moved down the hallway, taking cautious glances behind her to check for danger. Everything was still and silent down the hall behind her. It seemed like the torches were blinking out the further she got down to the juncture. Just as she paused to take a peek to decide where to go, another small form burst out in front her, causing her to jump and scream.

“ADORA,” a squeaky version of a now familiar voice chided her, “You’re too slow! I told ya, you’re gonna get lost if you don’t keep up.”

Adora stood staring at the child in front of her. Two fuzzy ears popping out of a head of hair that resembled more of a wild mane of brown hair than the short cut she remembered Catra with now. She was wearing a green dress adorned with elaborate stitching in gold around the neck. Most of all, Adora found herself drawn in by her large eyes that seemed to glow as they looked at her pleadingly. “You coming,” little Catra asked as she held out her small hand. Adora’s pudgy fingers quickly became interlaced with hers and it was all the tabaxi needed. Faster than she could remember moving in her life, the two were barreling down the hallway as their giggles and footfalls filled the silence. Increasingly, they found themselves at junctures that Catra didn’t think twice about before darting down this way or that. “Catra,” Adora whined from behind, “Where are we going?” 

“You’ll see,” the wild eyed tabaxi shouted as she glanced back. She finally brought them to a stop as they landed in a circular room that had many different passageways connected to it. Catra let go of the other girl’s hand as she started to circle through the room, glancing down each hallway. Adora stepped forward and analyzed the beautiful stone artwork that was displayed in the center of the room. It was a wide column that united the floor and the ceiling. Delicately carved into it were various scenes -- farming, collections of homes, two groups of people advancing towards each other with various weapons, the sea and creatures she didn’t recognize, and even more that she couldn’t make out near the top.

She called over to her friend, “Catra? What’s this?” The tabaxi popped back out of a hallway she had inspected and came to join her. “I dunno,” she offered with a shrug. Then she grabbed Adora by the shoulders and brought her attention back to her, “I need you. I don’t know which way to go.” Tears began dripping down her face accompanied by little gasping sobs. Adora quickly wrapped her arms around her and said, “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out together.” 

\---

Adora’s eyes flew open and she found herself looking up into sparkling pink ones instead of blue and gold. “Good morning, or.. Middle of the night, I guess,” Glimmer offered with a voice just above a whisper, “Bow and I are going to try to get some sleep. Nothing of note to report.”

The paladin nodded then sat up, noting a feeling of warmth slip off of her shoulder. Catra grumbled to herself as she got up but without any additional commentary threw on her leather armor. Adora once again found herself aided in the process of becoming the clanky warrior she was destined to be. Glimmer and Bow had already settled down in their bedrolls as the paladin and rogue headed over to the campfire. Once they were settled, Catra broke the silence first, “Sleep okay? Seems like you didn’t have any nightmares at least.”

“Yeah, nothing scary. Only silly little dreams,” Adora kept her eyes trained on the fire, trying to decide if she wanted to bring up the weird dream. ‘It’s weird, right?’ She thought to herself, ‘ To tell someone you just met that you’re dreaming about them… at least it was a kid dream and not an… _adult_ … dream.’

“It’s a good thing. If you screamed like yesterday, these two would’ve killed one of us in shock,” Catra whispered then leaned down to pick up her bag. She took out a cloth napkin and carefully unrolled it. Inside were two of the pastries she had saved from the inn. She stuffed one in her mouth before holding out the other to Adora who happily accepted. Catra’s eyes scanned the forest around them as she chewed.

“What’s it like,” Adora asked after she finished her pastry and washed it down with a drink from her waterskin. She handed it over to Catra who took a drink as well. “I mean, not having lame human eyes?”

Catra screwed up her face and thought about how to best explain it, “Look over there,” she pointed across the clearing and Adora followed with her eyes, “You probably just see darkness once the light of our fire gives out, right?” She nodded. “For me, I see past that for another fifty or sixty feet or so like it’s being dimly lit. Everything is all grey, but I can see a deer looking back at us right at the edge of my vision.” 

“Really,” Adora questioned incredulously, “You’re not just teasing me?”

“Nope, too sleepy for teasing,” Catra handed back over the waterskin and stretched her legs out in front of her. Her tail was lazily sweeping back and forth behind them, occasionally bumping into Adora’s back. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke up again quietly, “Hey, Adora. I think you should speak for the group tomorrow.”

“Wait, why me? I was a mess in Waterdeep,” Adora admitted as she groaned and held her head in her hands.

“Sure, but you’re a nice mess. Your face,” Catra started before stopping herself and awkwardly continuing, “It’s uh.. Friendly. Looks trustworthy. Glimmer’s entirely too much. Bow… he’s nice enough but he’ll be too excited. I think you’re the best bet.”

“And what’s wrong with you, hmm? You’re rather persuasive, I bet. Miss talk to a person for five minutes and now I have free food and board forever,” Adora joked. 

“Ha, well, I can’t say that’s a situation that transfers to most of my life,” Catra admitted as she met Adora's eyes with intensity, “You can do it. Don’t let wild magic run over you. You offered for  _ us  _ to join. We’re yours to lead.”

“Wait, does that mean you’re going to listen to what I tell you to do?” The paladin let her mouth hang open in shock, before saying a bit too loudly, “I’m in!” She muttered oops and glanced over to the other two, who didn’t seem to be stirring. 

“It means you have the right to tell me what to do. What I actually do, that’s up to me,” Catra winked as she whacked Adora’s ponytail with her tail. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, a voice was reminding her that, in fact, she would be ruining this quest for everyone if her intel was right. That it was wrong of her to build Adora up when she knew she’d be the reason the paladin would fail. She silenced it and focused on the present: a warm fire and the start of a new day where she didn’t have to feel so alone. 

\---

The party made quick work of packing up their campsite in the morning. Everyone ate their rations without complaint or requests of Bow for a fresh breakfast. Once they were back on the road, even Catra hung back for small talk this time. While she persisted in her attempts to avoid revealing much about herself, it was at least entertaining to rib the others about their stories. When she started to go too far, Adora cut in over her and redirected the conversation to everyone’s benefit. After a long morning of walking and talking, finally a town began to materialize ahead of them. By comparison to the City of Splendors, it might as well have been a child’s playset of a town. Still, its streets had their own hustle and bustle as mostly humans and halflings were milling about.

“How quaint,” Catra commented as she looked around while they walked down the main street (which was, in truth, the only street). She glanced over to Adora and asked curiously, “This what your hometown’s like?”

“Oh, no,” Adora admitted with a laugh, “It’s actually much bigger. We don’t even have half of these things. Which building do you think is the town hall?”

“Um,” Bow cut in and pointed to the right of them, “Probably this one that says ‘Town Hall’ on it. ”

“This is it,” Glimmer said with her hands on her hips, “Let’s do this! I can’t wait to find out what we’re going to be fighting.” 

Catra gave Adora a look and so the paladin took a deep breath and straightened up her stance with her shoulders back before she said in her most serious voice, “If it’s okay with everyone, I am going to take charge with the mayor.”

“Of course,” Bow offered with no hesitation. Glimmer looked a little deflated but quickly changed to a supportive smile, “Lead the way!”

The tabaxi winked at her and Adora grinned ear to ear as she led the group into the small town hall building. The small one room building had a few desks scattered throughout, and a much larger one at its center where a human man was bent over working on some paperwork. As soon as the door shut behind them, he looked up and joy filled his eyes. 

“Ah, what a fine group of heroes,” he bellowed as he got up from his desk. The group met him in the center of the building, Adora slightly ahead and ready when he offered her a handshake, “My name is Mayor Leng. Welcome to our fine town! If I am correct, you are here to help us with our missing item, yes?”

“Absolutely,” Adora shook his hand with authority, showing her strength perhaps a bit too much as he winced before they parted, “I’m Adora, servant of Lathander, and these are my allies, Catra, Glimmer, and Bow. We took up your notice from Waterdeep.”

“Wonderful, wonderful. Well met, all. Come, come. Let’s discuss this more in depth,” He led them back over to his desk and one of his assistants brought up chairs for each of the adventurers, “My apologies for the vagueness of the notice. The item that we’re needing to retrieve would garner some undue attention if named.”

“Of course, completely understandable,” Adora affirmed, “We can be  _ very  _ discrete.” Catra bit her tongue to keep from laughing. Even in their short time together, nothing about this group felt discrete.

“Exactly what we’re hoping for,” he gave another big smile before digging in his desk and pulling out a page of notes to reference, “I don’t suppose that any of you have ever heard of the Gulthias Tree, have you?”

They all shook their heads no immediately. “Ah, well. It lies in the bottom of a fortress not far from here known as the Sunless Citadel. It once was a mighty fortress, but time and disuse have taken their toil. Now it is the home of to groups of kobolds and goblins. We have a rather amicable arrangement with the goblins at least. Once a year during the midsummer, we have a festival here in town and run an auction. The goblins participate only to offer up a magical ruby-red apple that grows from the tree. It can heal any disease, restore vigor, and life. It’s very valuable and very rare, as it only grows once a year. It is always our most sought after item at the auction, and brings much attention to our small town and our economy.

Only this year, just as we were finalizing the last bid, a commotion broke out in the auction tent. A small band of kobolds and bugbears burst in, taking the apple as well as any coin they set their eyes on. Thankfully no one was harmed,” he shook his head with a big forlorn sigh, “But, worst of all, a group of farmers had been hoping to purchase the apple this year. They had gathered their savings to help this dear local family and their daughter. She’s fallen to an unusual illness and even our cleric cannot heal her. They don’t know how much time she has left…” He took a deep breath and met Adora’s eyes with intensity, “And that’s why we want you to track down the apple and return it. We hope to restore peace to our town and the goblins of the citadel, and to be able to continue this partnership. We don’t know if this is a rogue incident or if both clans have turned against us. We can offer you 800 gold for bringing a resolution to the matter and returning the apple. What say you?”

“Mayor Leng, it would be an honor to do this for you and your fine town,” Adora said forcefully as she held out her hand and they exchanged another shake that made him wince. 

Bow and Glimmer looked on with excitement and barely contained their desire to cheer. Meanwhile, Catra’s tail began to twitch behind her, betraying the level of unease that she easily hid on her face. Her hunch had been right. Which.. Was a good thing? Right? She was on her way to making a name for herself in the grandest thieve’s guild in all of Faerun. She just had to stay one step ahead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lil random DND notes: Glimmer's magic item is a Pearl of Power: While this pearl is on your person, you can use an action to speak its Command Word and regain one expended spell slot. If the expended slot is of 4th Level or higher, the new slot is 3rd Level. Once you have used the pearl, it can't be used again until the next dawn.
> 
> Technically speaking, Adora is the only one without a magic item now. Catra's hasn't been described, but could be found on her character sheet (linked in Ch. 4) by industrious readers that want to wonder why she has **that** particular thing.
> 
> Bow and Catra both have darkvision up to 60 ft, racial features granted by half-elf and tabaxi. No such luck for our human and halfling. 
> 
> As always, comments-n-such are appreciated.


	10. Harm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra and Adora see first hand how high the stakes are. A soft princess is revealed. Adora falls in love. Onward, noble steed.

“I have no doubt that you lot will solve this problem for us. Before you depart, I do have both an offering and a small favor to ask,” the man explained as he got up and led the group out of the hall. He pointed to a building down the street, “If you go see my constable, Felosia, over at our modest jail she should be able to provide you with some things that will aid in your journey. And, if you would be so kind, the favor I would ask is that you stop by the Windrun family’s home on your way out of town. Their cottage is right at the edge of main street. Purple and blue flowers out front, you can’t miss it. I believe knowing that someone has taken up this cause would be a great boon to little Thalia and her mothers.” 

“Of course, we’d be happy to,” Adora answered quickly. 

“Good luck. I look forward to having this matter behind us,” the mayor declared before heading back into the small town hall.

“How’d I do,” the paladin asked nervously as she eyed her companions, “Was that okay?”

“You were fantastic,” Glimmer assured her immediately. 

“Absolutely! Only… you know, the goblins,” Bow looked down at his feet. 

“Don’t worry, Bow, if you’re having to attack a goblin it’s definitely already trying to kill you. Cheer up,” Catra offered as she patted his back before giving her attention to Adora, “Maybe we should split up so we can leave sooner. These two take the jail and we’ll go see this kid or whatever.”

“Sounds like a plan. Onward, team,” Adora declared with gusto. And so, they split the party for the first time.

\---

“You really did fine back there, in case you were still worried,” Catra assured as she and Adora strolled through town, “Based on his face though, you’ve got a hell of a handshake.” The paladin frowned as she looked down at her hands. Feeling the shift in her emotion, the tabaxi quickly added, “Hey, I think it’s great. Let ‘em know you’re not to be fucked with all those muscles.”

Adora’s face lit back up as she gave a smug smile, “You think I’m great and strong?” The rogue answered simply with a laugh and roll of her eyes.

The cottage was indeed easy to spot with the beautiful flowers decorating the yard, a mixture of pinks, blues, and lavender tones that did not appear to be native to the area. Adora took a deep breath before knocking on the door and putting back on her best confident hero face. Catra lingered behind her, tail nervously twitching. The door pulled open and they were met by a human woman with long lavender hair pulled back in a ponytail. When she first opened the door, she looked forlorn but seeing the two new people her blue eyes softened with relief. 

She placed her hand over her heart as she said, “Did Mayor Leng send you?” Adora nodded and the woman stepped back to allow them entry, “Thank the gods. We're so happy to have you here. Come in,” She led them into the small common room of the cottage and they were soon joined by another human woman with shorter silver-blue hair. The first woman continued, “My name is Spinnerella, and this is my wife, Netossa.” 

Netossa eyed the two adventurers with interest, notably more guarded than her spouse, “You _are_ here to help with our Thally, right?” 

“Absoutely! My name is Adora,” Adora said confidently, putting a hand on Catra’s shoulder, “And this is Catra. We came from Waterdeep with two other strong adventurers. We’ll have that apple back in no time.”

“I certainly hope so,” Netossa said simply, coming to place a protective arm around her wife, “It was… the last option we had.”

"It's okay, darling," Spinnerella whispered to her wife as as she placed her hand on her cheek lovingly before turning her attention back to the newcomers, “Our Thalia is very strong. We are very grateful for your help.”

“What exactly happened to her,” Catra questioned cautiously. 

Netossa shook her head and looked solemn, “She won’t tell us. We barely can get a word out of her anymore. About a month ago, we found her collapsed in the woods. Since then.. It’s only gotten worse.” As her voice began to break up, Spinnerella took over, “If you’d like to meet her, you’re welcome to. Our cleric says it’s not a natural disease, we’ve been told it isn’t contagious.” 

“Of course we would,” Adora answered for both of them, and Catra felt her throat go dry at the prospect. And so they were led into a room decorated with flowers from the garden as well as beautiful colorful paintings on the wall. At its center was a small bed where a little girl with fluffy purple hair was propped up against her pillows reading a book. They guessed her to be perhaps seven or eight years old. 

“Thally,” Spinerella said quietly as she sat down on the side of her bed, “We’d like you to meet our new friends,” she gestured at the two women and the little girl peered over her book with dark eyes, “They’re going to help with getting the apple back. Isn’t that great?”

She closed the book and her eyes were slowly darting between her visitors. Adora moved forward and smiled warmly down at her, “Thalia, we are going to get that apple. You have my word. You’ll be good as new.” Thalia tilted her head and blinked at the paladin several times but didn’t speak. So Adora continued, “My name is Adora, and this is Catra. And we ha-” she let her voice drop as the girl pointed at the tabaxi, who was lingering still in the doorway with her back propped against it.

“Catra?” she said in a little voice. The mismatched eyes of the rogue grew wide and she answered softly, “Yep, that’s me.” 

“You’re so pretty. Are you a princess? Like in my book,” she asked hopefully, holding out her book titled _The Powerful Princess_.

Catra exchanged a confused look with Adora, but before she could shoot down the little girl’s dream, the paladin piped up with excitement, “Yes! She _is_ a princess, and I’m her knight. Right, Princess Catra?”

Catra took a deep breath before smiling convincingly, “Ah, you discovered my secret, little one. What if you tell me one in return? Hmm?” She moved forward and stood looking down at her sweet round face that was lit up with wonder, “What do you say? Can you whisper to me what happened that made you so very sick?”

Netossa and Spinerella met eyes, and as though communicating telepathically, moved in tandem away from the bed to allow Catra room to sit with their daughter alone. Adora backed away as well and gazed at the scene in awe. Thalia nodded her head weakly and motioned to the tabaxi, “Come here.” Catra leaned one of her ears down by the little girl’s mouth. Thalia cupped her hands around to hide her speech as she whispered, “I was playing in the woods and I found a funny stone. It was sooo pretty. It was colored like mine and mommy Spinny’s hair. And I was gonna bring it back to show her, but on my way back I met a lady. She offered to give me something special in exchange for the stone, but I really wanted it and I found it first.. so I said no. Then… she took it from me… and…” she started to tear up a little bit, and Catra rubbed her shoulder and offered a soft, “It’s okay, you're safe here.” 

She sniffled before starting again, “She looked scary, like pale and icky, but then she said some words...and.. She looked better only then I felt really bad and it never stopped. I don't want her to come back and hurt my mommies.”

Catra nodded and whispered back, “Do you remember anything else about what she looked like?”

“She had long black hair and a pretty red dress,” she whispered then leaned back to softly touch the ear that was closest to her.

Adora tensed up briefly, worried that Catra might react negatively to the unexpected touch. Instead, the tabaxi smiled and used her tail to boop her on the nose, “Thank you for telling me. You're very brave.” She slowly got up and looked over at Adora, “Knight Adora, we must head out immediately.”

They headed back out into the main room followed by Netossa while Spinerella stayed back. Once she closed the door behind her she demanded, “What did she tell you?”

Catra relayed the information and followed it with, “Sounds like some kind of necromantic magic. From the description, the woman could be some kind of undead? I’m not sure.”

Netossa clenched her fists and did her best to control the anger rising in her, “Thank you. At least we know what we’re dealing with now. I’m not sure if the apple can help…”

“BUT we are bringing it back, absolutely,” the paladin reassured her, “And if that doesn’t work, we’ll figure out something.”

“I very much want to believe you,” Netossa gave a small smile, “We are grateful for you trying.”

With that, Adora and Catra headed back out of the cottage. As soon as the door shut behind them Catra groaned, “What about me says princess? And please… don’t go making promises like that. We have no idea what’s going to happen.”

“You’re just so pretty and dainty,” Adora said with a wink to the torment of the tabaxi, “And, I believe we’re going to do this. I can feel it. Lathander brought us here for a reason.”

The rogue was about to remind her that a piece of paper brought them here, but before she could she heard the shouting of Bow, “Guys! Check it out!” They turned their attention to the road where now Bow and Glimmer were each leading a chestnut brown riding horse. Adora squealed as she ran down to join them. She reached up and pet the horse being led by Glimmer carefully.

“Somebody’s a horse girl,” Catra goaded the paladin once she made it down with her more leisurely pace. 

“Are they ours forever,” Adora asked with big eyes to Glimmer who shook her head no with a sympathetic look on her face, “Aw, well, horsey, I will be your very best temporary owner of all time. I love you already.” The horse she was petting gave a happy whinny which managed to make the human smile even bigger, her cheeks straining from the stretch. 

“They also gave us a map and a basic healing kit,” Bow explained, holding up said map, “If we leave now, we’ll be able to get there in a couple hours with the horses. Glimmer and I can take this one. Probably a stupid question, but do you know how to ride Adora?”

“YES,” Adora answered too enthusiastically, quickly pulling herself up into the saddle, she offered a hand down to the tabaxi, “Princess Catra, my noble steed and I are honored to be at your disposal.”

Glimmer began cackling immediately, “Princess? Really?”

“I’m so close to offering you as a sacrifice in exchange for the apple, Sparkles,” Catra groaned as she took Adora’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. 

\---

“If I’m understanding this map correctly,” Bow mused aloud as he guided his horse to a stop and hopped down. He moved forward slowly and peered through a thick collection of trees, “Yes! It’s right down this hill. I can see the entrance to the fortress.” 

“Alright! Let’s go fuck up some kobolds,” Glimmer cheered as she climbed down. 

“You know, Glimmer, you really defy the expectations about halflings being a cheerful and affable people,” Catra stated with a grin on her face. Glimmer scowled and almost interjected before the tabaxi finished, “I respect that. Fuck stereotypes.” The halfling gave a wicked grin to that and stilled her desire to volley back an insult.

Adora got down from ‘horsey’ with ease and, without waiting to be asked, helped her riding partner down as well, “I think it would be for the best if we start out with affability though. The mayor said that they don’t _normally_ have problems with them.”

Bow nodded and affirmed the sentiment, “Yeah, that's what the constable told us. It’s been literally years since they have had issues with the kobolds or the goblins. They normally keep to themselves.”

“Alright, so, in the interest of trying to talk it out… anybody speak goblin?” Catra inquired, everyone shook their head no, “Okay… so we’ll hope they know common. How about draconic, for the kobolds at least?”

Glimmer gave a self satisfied smile as she rose her hand, “I do!”

“Great! Glimmer, you can translate for me, and we’ll try to work this out first,” Adora gave another confident smile as she put her hands on her hips, “We are doing this! Let’s tie up the horses.” She approached her horse once more, “Okay? Horsey. So you’re safe. You don't need to go in the scary dungeon.”

“Adora, I’m afraid to ask... but you know that it can’t understand you, right?” the tabaxi sighed as she stared at the human who was continuing to have a conversation with the animal.

“You don’t know that,” Adora challenged, “Maybe horsey has been awakened. What do you say, horsey? Do you have a druid friend? Hmm?”

Catra shook her head in disbelief, “Of course! You don’t know a teleportation circle when you see one but you know of the spell that makes animals talk.”

“When you two are done flirting with each other and the horse, we’re leaving,” Glimmer teased as she headed down the hill with Bow. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, the beginnings of a classic dungeon crawl. Will Glimmer have to fuck up some kobolds? Will Bow cry as he prepares his bow to strike down the first goblin? Will Adora sus out Catra's ulterior motives for finding the apple? Will Catra be able to steal a magic healing apple from a sick girl? Answers to all that and more! 
> 
> A DND fun fact for this chapter: The players handbook does describe halflings as a affable and cheerful people, but Glimmer is perfect just the way she is.


	11. Forlorn Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody is having a great time in their first dungeon crawl as a party. Especially Catra, she'd rate it a 10 out of 10. 
> 
> Alternatively:  
> Lost and Found: Dragon edition.

Catra and Adora met eyes awkwardly before both decided to pretend that Glimmer’s glib commentary had never happened. The paladin finished tying up her horse and gave him one last hug around the neck before joining the rogue to catch up to their party. Once they reached the end of the thick forest, they could see the entrance to what must have been a mighty fortress in its past life. As Bow began to approach, Catra reached out with a quick hand and pulled him back. “Wait, we don’t know what we’re going into here,” she explained not gruffly but experienced and wearily. With light feet and careful movement, she crept ahead of the group as her eyes swept around from the floor, ceiling, and walls of the entrance. It looked more like going into a cave than a building due to nature having reclaimed so much of the manmade structure.

“Is this really necessary,” Glimmer impatiently complained to the remaining party, “I mean, why would they trap their own entrance? Don’t they have to get in?”

The rogue paid her no mind as she continued moving forward until she caught sight of something of interest. She knelt and pulled out a small set of tools from her backpack. With steady hands, she pried open and jammed a panel that was imperceptible at first glance. With a smug smile, she looked back and cocked her head at the group to say, “Seems necessary to me. We don’t want to waste time dragging your body out of a pit, right, wild magic?” Glimmer sighed and relented with a quiet, “Okay, you’re right.”

They continued their slow and steady way into the structure—Catra staying a few steps ahead and motioning when they were to follow. The only sound bouncing off the walls was that of their footfalls and the occasional quiet comment. Finally the hallway ended and they reached the top of a winding set of stairs that went deep down into darkness. The tabaxi and half-elf looked down into the darkness, straining for their darkvision to reveal any secrets.

“See anything?” Adora asked quietly, looking down herself despite knowing it would be fruitless. The two shook their heads and so she proposed, “Maybe we should light a torch? If we’re wanting to try to talk first… it’s not like we really need to be sneaky, right?” Without waiting for any consensus, Glimmer pulled from her own pack a torch and lit it with a quick bolt of fire. Thankfully, the stairs themselves did not offer any danger, but as soon as they thought they must be reaching the bottom somehow there was a new turn and a deeper descent.

At last, they reached the floor of what appeared to be a ruined courtyard. Piles of debris littered the ground, making some places completely impassable. Adora looked over the scene and tried to make sense of where to go next. “Please tell me they gave you a map for in here,” she whined to Bow who shook his head no. She scanned the room and noted a doorway on the other side of debris that looked like a path had been pressed into it. “I think we should try that door. It seems like they use it the most.” Having no reason to oppose the plan, the other three followed along with her as they walked across the room and started to climb onto the piles of stone, metal, and wood. The pieces shifted under their feet with nearly every step.

Catra was leading the group as she easily balanced herself from one shaking step to the next. Adora followed close behind, though much more clumsily. Suddenly, there was a crashing sound as the tabaxi managed to find a rock that was precariously placed over a gap in the rubble. She lost her footing and started to disappear down into the pile with a startled squeak, but the paladin rushed forward and caught her arm at the last moment. “I don’t know what you’d do without me,” Adora teased as she lifted the flustered woman back out. Catra started to give a heated reply, but she was silenced as she felt something clawing at her ankle. She looked down into the beady, ugly eyes of a giant rat that was crawling out from the hole behind her. The tabaxi screamed, her tail puffed up behind her, and eyes went wide as she desperately scrambled up faster and moved behind the paladin.

Once Adora saw the cause of the terror, she drew her sword quickly and made a swing at the giant rat’s head with enough force to sever it. “Oh wow,” Glimmer smirked as she whispered to Bow, “I guess the cat doesn’t like rats.” He looked back at her to tell her to be nice, but found himself shrieking as a giant rat was leaping towards Glimmer. Before either of them had time to react, the creature latched itself onto one of her arms with its piercing fangs. Bow steadied himself the best he could on the rubble and notched an arrow with careful aim. “Don’t move,” he warned Glimmer then let the arrow fly. The creature released the sorceress as it fell back with an arrow lodged in its neck. For good measure, Glimmer whipped up a quick fire bolt that sent the putrid smell of burning fur into the air. “Guys, let’s hurry before more of these things show up,” Adora suggested once everyone was settled again. She glanced back at Catra, who was still clinging to her back and asked quietly, “You okay?”

“I’m fine, just… stay still for a second,” Catra whispered as she pulled herself up onto the human’s armored shoulders. She used the added height to launch herself across the remainder of the ruins and into the entrance way showing off her acrobatics as she landed with a roll. She waited on the other side of the rubble to help Adora down, who stayed behind for everyone else. Catra went to work analyzing the new hallway they found themselves in.

Once they were safely on the other side, Bow bent down to give Glimmer a quick hug before he looked at her bleeding arm and was panicked all over again. “Adora, heal her,” he implored with a heavy whine in his voice.

Before the paladin could step closer to do so, Glimmer waved her off. “No, it’s fine,” she said firmly, “We should save healing for serious stuff. Can you wrap it for now?”

Adora took the healer’s kit they had been gifted and gingerly cleaned and bandaged Glimmer's arm to the best of her ability. “Okay, that should be good! Bow, you keep an eye on her and let me know if she’s becoming a wererat,” Adora did her best to seem gravely serious, and it worked as Bow’s eyes widened at the possibility, “Kidding! Kidding. I don’t _think_ that could happen?”

“If it does, I promise to put you out of your misery, Sparkles. It’s the least I could do,” Catra gave a wink before turning her attention back to scanning the hallway, “Should be clear up through to the doorway, unless there’s some magic bullshit but I haven’t sensed anything.” Glimmer raised an eyebrow at the last statement and exchanged a confused look with Bow while she mouthed without a sound, “sensed?” He shrugged, and both made a mental note to discuss this later. 

As they walked down the hall, the halfling pointed at the walls where unusual writing was scrawled in paint and chalk, “We’re definitely going the right way for the Kobolds. This is all draconic.”

Adora tilted her head as she looked it over, “What’s it say? Anything important?”

Glimmer laughed and pointed out a message written in red paint… or at least red something, “Well, that one says ‘Goblins leave’ so, no, I don’t think so. Oh wait--- this one says ‘music,’ that’s interesting, right?” Glimmer noted as she walked up to where the word was inscribed at about the height of the previous passage way. She pressed in on the stone and thrillingly, it gave away as it slid open with a puff of dust and rush of stale air. “Look what I found,” she shouted to group, doubly excited that she had noted something Catra had missed.

“Wait,” the rogue cautioned, but was too late as the other three began filing into the forgotten room. Inside the room were various alcoves each containing a pedestal and a fist sized crystal ball. Three of the four were dark and cracked, but one on a wall alone was glowing with a soft blue light. Glimmer was immediately drawn to it and she approached carefully. Bow and Adora were not far behind, though both prepared to snatch Glimmer and run back out. 

“What do you think it is,” Bow asked curiously as he watched her assessing the item. She stood on her tiptoes to look at it from all angles, not sure exactly what to make of the item, “I’m not sure, I’m wishing I knew identify right about now.”

Catra called from the doorway where she was posted up anxiously, “If you don’t know, don’t fucking touch it.” That was all it took. Glimmer gingerly extended a finger and tapped the orb, which began emitting a brooding music that raised in volume until it was echoing in the room. They all instinctively covered their ears, feeling the music tugging at something in their minds. The trio by the orb managed to shake it off, but as Adora looked back to check on Catra she noticed she was gone. Without a word she ran into the hall where she caught the tabaxi scrambling to crawl back to the top of the rubble and exit. 

“Catra, stop,” she yelled to no avail as she hurried down the hall. Mercifully, in her haste, the rogue caught another bad footrest and sent herself back down a few feet. It was enough of a misstep for Adora to grab her by the waist and hold her still, “Catra, I need you to stop and listen to me. Are you okay?” No answer came as the tabaxi writhed in her grasp, uselessly scratching at her well armored companion. Finally, she screamed, “I HAVE TO GO. I NEED TO LEAVE, LET ME GO!” By now Glimmer and Bow had joined them with terrified looks on their face.

“I’m so sorry,” Glimmer said meekly, running through her head a series of ideas to fix the problem, “If it’s making her do this, we could try to wait it out. If it’s a charm it won’t last forever…” 

“Easy to say when you’re not dodging razor blades,” Adora groaned as she continued doing just that, as Catra was moving on to trying to make purchase on her exposed neck and face all while whining about needing to leave. 

Bow took a deep breath and decided on a course of action he was not pleased with, “Glimmer. Smack her. I’ve seen that work before to break a charm.”

“What, no! You smack her! She’s already going to be mad enough at me,” she said while backing up, “Plus, I can’t reach.” Bow looked down disapprovingly and moved to pick her up, which she did not resist. He brought the halfling up to face around where Catra was flailing. And so, she took her tiny hand and slapped Catra as hard as she could muster. The strike seemed to do the trick as the rogue blinked a few times and went passive in Adora’s arms as she looked up at her.

The paladin gave a cheesy smile and commented, “I bet it’s really tiring being right all the time,” before she put her down.

Wordlessly, Catra narrowed her eyes at Glimmer as she started back down the hall the way she was originally leading the group. Somehow it was more frightening than if she had shouted threats or even tried to swipe at someone again. They continued on in relative silence for almost an hour, twisting this way and that throughout the fortress. No more giant rats were making themselves known, and everyone was listening intently when Catra pointed out the few pressure plates for traps she noted. Finally she brought them to a stop at what appeared to be a dead end hallway. A statue of a coiled dragon carved from white marble sat at the end. 

“I guess we need to turn around,” Adora asked Catra carefully, not trying to take a step closer than she had. 

“I think it’s another door,” Glimmer pointed out as she gestured at the ground, where well worn tracks in the stone moved out from the statue and into the hall. 

“A dragon door seems like the place the kobolds would be hiding, right,” Bow darted his eyes between the statue and Catra.

All four of them were lined up in the hallway now, three waiting to take their lead from the tabaxi lest they incite more chaos. “Yeah, it makes sense,” she said quietly, before she looked over at Glimmer, “Go… stand in front of it.” 

The halfling thought about protesting, but felt she at least owed it to her to comply. As she approached the statue, its jaw began moving, but thankfully instead of some kind of arcane breath it released words, “We come at night without being fetched; we disappear by day without being stolen. What are we?” The sorceress thought about it for a moment before responding, “Stars.”

There was a mechanical sound and the statue began to slide on the ground forward, showing a passageway. “At least you’re good for something,” Catra quipped as she moved past the halfling to peer into the space that had opened. Unlike the previous secret chamber, the air of this one was not stale but full of the lingering smell of smoke. She cautiously motioned the others to follow her. Once fully inside, they took in the room -- a large, irregularly shaped chamber with a metallic cage on one wall and a bedroll beside it where the sounds of whimpering could be heard, muffled by a torn, dirty blanket.

“Please, please, don’t take me away,” a little sad voice called out in draconic, “Meepo is very sorry.”

Everyone looked at Glimmer. She called out in a soft voice, “Hello? Meepo? We’re not here to take you away. We…” 

A little red kobold head popped out from under the blanket and he went from scared to shocked as he asked in common, “Who are you?” 

“My name is Adora,” the paladin started, making sure to show her hands were devoid of weaponry (conversely, Catra already had a dagger prepared behind her back). “We’re just here to try to find the magic apple. We need it to save a sick girl.”

“I do not know about apple,” he whined, pulling himself up from the bedroll and cautiously approaching the group. He gestured at the empty cage behind him, “The goblins! They take things. They took our baby dragon, Calcryx.” 

“I’m sorry about that, Meepo,” Adora said calmly, “Maybe we can help get your dragon back after we get the apple. We need to talk to the goblins too. We’re having a hard time making our way around though. Can you tell us where to go?”

“Meepo doesn’t know, my job is to watch Calcryx. But… Yusdrayl will know. I will take you to her,” he offered as he moved forward. 

“Yusdrayl,” Bow questioned slowly, trying to pronounce it correctly.

“Our queen,” the kobold said reverently before his little body shook, “She is mad at Meepo, but maybe this will help. Come, come. We will go to her now.” He easily weaved through the group and back out of the secret door. 

“He seems sincere to me,” Adora whispered to the others before they hesitantly followed behind him.

\---

Meepo led the adventurers through the winding halls of the fortress, pointing out any remaining traps and proving his trustworthiness (and his incessant need to chatter -- telling them all about the white dragon he was in charge of, about how he liked his job, about how he was worried he was going to be kicked out or worse if the dragon wasn’t found, and more). Occasionally they came across other kobolds who Meepo shouted to with a codeword in draconic, “Ticklecorn,” and they immediately dropped the arms they had readied at the adventurers. 

Finally, he lead them through a set of ornate doors and into what clearly was their de facto throne room. A short, stone throne with a carving of a dragon head atop sat across the hall. Sitting upon the throne was a larger red kobold wearing a white gown. Her claws were decorated with rings of sparkling gems. She turned her head to the side as she said in draconic, “Meepo. Why have you brought these… creatures… here?”

He bowed deeply before raising his head and offering in a worried voice, “They are nice. They want to help find Calcryx. They are mad at the goblins too!”

The three who did not understand draconic glanced at Glimmer who gave them a small nod before she bowed. She took a deep breath then began in her most royal of draconic pronunciation, “Lovely Queen Yusdrayl, my name is Glimmer. These are my companions: Adora, Bow, and Catra. We would be happy to help retrieve the dragon. We are asking for aid in bringing back the apple, we were told that kobolds were seen at the theft.”

“You speak draconic well,” the queen answered in perfect common, “Unfortunately, I know nothing of the blessed fruit’s theft. If kobolds of my clan were involved, I must assume that they were acting on their own in reaction to the dragon’s theft. What I may offer you is safe passage through what is our rightful territory, and additional rewards if you return our Calcryx safely.” 

“We accept your terms,” Adora answered decisively after meeting eyes with the others to check for disagreement. 

“Wonderful,” the kobold queen hissed out, “Meepo, come.” The nervous kobold ran fast as his little legs could take him. From a small table beside her throne she pulled a scroll which she gave to him, “This is a map through what we have been able to discover. There is a back entrance to the section of the fortress those wretched creatures are occupying currently, and we have marked it as such. Unfortunately, we have not yet ventured further in to map out the rest.” Meepo hurried back the map and offered it to Adora who took it with a smile.

“Thank you, Queen Yusdrayl,” Adora said while bowing and the others followed suit. With that, Meepo ushered them back into the hall and helped orientate them to the map and their current location. “I hope you can bring my baby back,” the kobold lamented as he began shaking again,, “I would come, but I am not very strong. Meepo would only get in the way.” 

“Yeah, that’s probably true,” Catra agreed and everyone looked at her judgmentally. She rolled her eyes and softened the response with, “Thanks though.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: More combat and some some backstory reveals I'm enthused about that will explain some of the little random details in this chapter (as well as soft scenes, because long rests/night watches are for softness not just recovery). 
> 
> Again, the dungeon and the "NPCs" thus far in it are from the Sunless Citadel, an official DND adventure. I can't take credit for Meepo. Bless him. I hope I'm not yatta-yatta-ing through details too much. If really wrote out all the scenes it would take to get them through the fortress... well, I'd reckon that's about 10 chapters on it's own.


	12. Grappling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventurers push further into the dungeon. Dangers and moral quandaries wait around every corner.  
> CW: Violence/descriptions of injuries.

The party ventured further into the dungeon with ease now. The only thing impeding them was the occasional group of kobolds that stood down once Glimmer said the code word and explained their errand from the queen. Before they entered the part of the map that had been marked as ‘goblin territory,’ Bow turned to the group and asked, “Guys, have we thought about what we’re going to do if we find the goblins and they’re like, it’s the kobolds that took the apple, you should be on our side? How do we know for sure who the bad guys are?”

Adora stopped in her tracks, legitimately puzzled by this notion, “Wait. You’re right. What if we’re tricking us? Maybe we should go back and…”

“No way, we are not going back now,” Catra scoffed from up front, turning around to face the group, “If the kobolds are playing the long game, we’ll get their stupid baby dragon and force it out of them.”

Glimmer nodded in agreement and added, “I didn’t get the impression the queen was lying. Let’s just keep going.”

Catra ran her hands over the solid wall that was indicated to connect to the so called ‘goblin’ territory, eventually finding a stone that was out of place and beginning to pull it back. She looked back at everyone and said quietly, “Be ready.” The wall shifted, and opened into a mercifully empty corridor. Nothing about it seemed to indicate it was all together a new territory than the kobold section of the fortress they’d navigated. “That was anticlimactic,” Glimmer noted drly as she came through. Adora pushed the secret door back into place behind them. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, tiny,” Catra said as she pointed up at a bell that was rigged over the door she was about to open. She dug her claws into the wall beside the door and climbed up so that she could cut the bell down. 

She opened the door into a dark room and cried out as soon as she stepped forward. Biting her lip to contain further noises of pain that were creeping up in her throat, the rogue hopped on her good foot back away from the new space. Adora helped her to the ground and grimaced while staring at the caltrop that was buried deep in her exposed foot, “Might need to rethink your stance on shoes.” Catra sat back on her elbows glaring at the paladin. “Alright, I’m going to take this out in 3.. 2..” and before saying one, she yanked the caltrop out with one hand and replaced it with her other to transfer some healing magic. The tabaxi yelped and then relaxed once the pain was gone. Glimmer relit a torch and held it into the room, “Uh. Bad news. It’s like… the whole FLOOR in here is those things.”

Catra mumbled a quiet thanks to Adora then got up to meet Glimmer at the door. “Alright, wild magic,” she said as she looked down and then knelt beside her, “This is a one time offer. Hang on tight.” The halfling clung onto Catra’s back and she maneuvered them so that she could latch onto the wall of the room. Slowly but surely she climbed her way across and deposited the Glimmer safely on the other side. The tabaxi repeated this process for Bow but stayed on the otherside instead of going back for the paladin. “Listen, no offense, but you’d break my back with how much you weigh with all that shit on,” she explained to Adora, “You’re going to have to jump it.” 

Adora went from offended to amused by the challenge of it. “No problem,” she declared as she backed up to give herself a running start, “Out of my way!” The others obliged as she ran forward and managed to clear nearly the entire room. A couple of stray caltrops caught in her boot, but didn’t make an impact into her flesh. “Dang, Adora! You’re a beast,” Bow marveled at the athletic feat. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she said with a coy smile as she plucked the caltrops out of her boots and threw them back behind her, “All this _shit_ is heavy, but I am _really_ strong unlike some people.”

They continued down the path until they rounded the corner into another dark, long hallway. Only a little louder than the sound of their footsteps were some murmuring voices in a language none of them understood. “Door on the right,” Catra whispered after she took a moment to focus on her hearing. Everyone’s eyes widened and they stopped to take defensive stances. Shouts, laughter, and the distinct smell of alcohol spilled out of the room as a trio of goblins entered the hall with them. A look of confusion flashed on their faces before it faded into anger as they saw the party. 

“Intruders!” the larger, apparently more drunken one of the crew screamed as he began barreling at them.

“We don’t want to--” Bow got out before he was on the receiving end of a rock flung from a sling one of the goblins was carrying. It hit just above his left eye and drew blood, “Ok. So we’re doing this,” he whimpered.

“YEAH,” Glimmer roared, ready to unleash all of her pent up aggression from a long day of anticipation. She worked her hands in front of her with a smirk on her face. The crystal hanging from her necklace began to glow in tandem with her movements, and suddenly a shard of ice formed in the air in front of her. She brought her hands together and pushed forward in the air, and the shard flew crashing into the chest of the goblin rushing them. It exploded as it struck sending sharp pieces of ice into the bodies of his companions. At the same time, a magical energy burst forth from the halfling and her form began to expand and stretch until she was the same height as Adora. “That’s a new one,” Bow said cheerfully as Glimmer was sighing in relief.

Adora charged forward to meet the larger one in the middle. “Lay down your arms,” she commanded in her most serious voice, “We only want the apple. There’s no reason to do this.” The goblin in front of her laughed and spit at her before saying in broken common, “Nothing for you but death.” He raised a scimitar and was prepared to strike before Adora took a powerful swing with her sword and struck him down. Her heart began racing as she looked down at the body collapsed in front of her. The light quickly faded from the goblin’s eyes. She was startled from her moral crisis as a dagger zipped through the air beside her and straight into the eye of one of the remaining foes who then joined the other on the ground. 

“Little close, Catra,” she shouted as she looked back at the tabaxi, who gave her a wink and answered back, “What can I say? I’ve got great aim.”

Speaking of aim, Bow had taken a deep breath and tried to push the image of dancing happy goblins out of his head while he notched an arrow. He let it fly and it struck into the arm of the remaining goblin. She yelped and began to run down the hall screaming, not wanting to join her dead allies. The party took chase, Catra coming to the lead with her speed and grabbing the goblin right before she managed to push open a door at the end of the hall. “Alright, you little shit,” she said as she handed over the goblin to Adora, “Unless you want to end up like them,” she said pointing back down the hall with another dagger and then bringing it to the goblin’s face, “Why don’t you be smart and tell us what you know about the apple?”

“I know nothing,” she whimpered as she wiggled uselessly in Adora’s grasp.

“Where can we find someone that would know,” Adora asked as she adjusted the goblin to make her look at her, “If you tell us, I’ll let you go.” Catra shook her head slightly at Adora and silently mouthed “absolutely not.” 

The goblin reached behind her back to point at the door she’d been trying to get to, “In there they know. I talk to them.” 

“Listen you,” Glimmer fumed as she came around to stare at the goblin, “If this is a trick, you’re going to regret it. You hear that?!” As if a punctuation to her threat, the wild magic surge passed and she was back down to her regular height. The captive gave a chortle and the halfling narrowed her eyes back up at her in Adora’s arms, “MY MAGIC IS THE SAME SIZE.” 

“Glimmer.. That doesn’t...,” Bow mumbled mostly to himself before he let it go.

“Let me open door,” the goblin advised, “They attack if you hold me.”

Adora looked at Catra for confirmation and she shrugged, “Caught her once, she can’t get too far.” And so the paladin cautiously put the goblin on the ground. She moved forward slowly and opened the door head of them. The others followed behind and entered into a room unlike any they had been in before. It was a domed chamber with high ceilings, lit by a series of torches as well as a faint violet magical aura coming up from a large hole in the ground at the center of the room. Sickly white and gray vines crept up out of the hole and snaked around the room. Alongside the strange sight was a bugbear dressed in clothes that were fashioned from various beast pelts. Flanking them was a pair of kobolds who they were in discussion with prior to the interruption.

“Bazza,” the bugbear called out to the goblin in common, “What is the meaning of this?” 

Bazza took this as her cue to bolt towards her allies. Catra made a grab for her but just barely came up short of capturing the nimble goblin’s shoulder. “Intruders! They kill Zog and Er.”

“Is that so,” the bugbear eyed the group, “And why are you here if not only to slaughter?”

“We did not come to fight,” Adora explained.

“And yet you have,” the bugbear offered dismissively, reaching into a small pouch on their hip and pulling some berries that they offered to Bazza, “They say my kind are violent, but you sneak around our home in armor and weapons. What are we to think?” Bazza chomped down the berries and the wound where Bow’s arrow struck sealed once more.

“We came to retrieve the apple for a sick child. I can pay you for it. No one else has to get hurt,” Adora entreated, still holding her ground firmly and trying not to show her nerves. 

“Ah, the apple,” the bugbear said with a knowing smile, “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Deals have already been struck. It’s business, you must understand. Now, if you don’t mind, please leave. I’d rather not waste my energy killing you all.”

Before the paladin could respond, Glimmer desperately shouted in draconic to the kobolds, “Your queen is on our side. Help us stop them!”

One of the kobolds snickered as he replied, “Our queen is weak. Her power means nothing to us. We will have our own.” 

Glimmer whispered to her allies, “Nope. Not friendly kobolds.” 

With that, Adora took a few steps forward, muttering some arcane words to herself before her sword lit up with crackling divine energy, “We are not leaving without the apple. This is your last chance.” 

“No, that was yours,” the bugbear said calmly as they pricked one of their fingers, pushing forth a drop of blood that suspended in the air as they chanted. Adora, Glimmer, and Bow all grabbed their heads with a pained scream. Catra looked into the eyes of her allies and was horrified to see them glossed over with a faint, unnatural red glow. “Perfect,” she grumbled to herself and then quick scrambled up the nearest wall. Once she situated herself well enough to perch with a hand free, she took aim and threw a dagger straight into the chest of the bugbear. They winced slightly as they pulled the weapon buried in their chest and simply tossed it to the ground beside them.

One of the kobolds moved next, rushing at Adora who was still trying to get her bearings straight from the effect of the spell. The kobold took advantage of her disorientation and managed to stab his own dagger into one of her thighs. In turn, she came down on him with her sword with less force than she would have liked but still the thunderous smite she had poured into the weapon unleashed all the same. As the divine energy pushed into the kobold’s body, he was flung back towards his allies and laid prone on the floor. She gave one of her smug smiles to the bugbear as she moved forward to meet them, sword at the ready. 

Glimmer whipped her hands and produced a new undulating mass of energy between them. She strained to focus on the bugbear with the magic clouding her mind and vision. Hoping for the best, she hurled it forward. As it flew the energy transformed into a stream of acid, but her aim was off entirely and it crashed with a hiss into the wall behind her foes as they all laughed. The other kobold took out a sling and launched a rock that crashed into the back of Glimmer’s head as she tried to turn away and dodge it. “Fuck,” the halfling grumbled as she rubbed her head, feeling blood beginning to soak into her hair.

“Okay, Bow, you can do this, everyone’s counting on you,” he pulled a new arrow out and spoke a command word into it as he poured his own magic in. As he was taking aim at the bugbear, he heard a shout from behind and above him, “A little to the left!” With the rogue’s advice, he was able to readjust and when he let the arrow go it sailed perfectly into the Bugbear’s chest, hitting the same spot that the dagger had. It exploded into a hail of thorns and pierced into the goblin and kobolds alike. Bazza collapsed onto the ground and the kobold already prone let out a gasp before going still. 

“You want to rethink this yet,” Adora challenged proudly at the display of her friends’ powers.

“Do you,” the bugbear questioned simply as they reached forward and touched Adora’s shoulder. The paladin screamed out in agony as necrotic energy poured through her body, feeling as though she was being crushed from the inside. The pain brought her down to a knee but still she kept her eyes trained on her foe. 

Suddenly, a sphere of energy crashed into the bugbear’s chest that exploded into thunder. They staggered backwards away from Adora, and looked wildly trying to figure out the source of the magic but saw none. Catra continued climbing up the rounded wall into the ceiling until she dropped down beside Adora with an acrobatic flip. As she rose to standing she stared at the bugbear with her wild mismatched eyes, as she growled, “Bad choice.” She brandished two daggers at the ready and looked eager to use them. 

Glimmer’s vision became clear once more and she focused again on pulling forth the chaotic energy that surged inside her. A new warbling mass of energy hurled from her, targeting the last kobold with a stream of fire, sending it to the ground as well. She hopped up with a cheer, and illusory butterflies and flower petals began to swirl around the halfing’s body. 

“Give us the apple,” Bow commanded as he aimed his bow at her, his eyes also now clear from the magic. Their foe merely began cackling once more, and so he unleashed another arrow that this time the bugbear dodged. He moved in by Glimmer and tried his best to look rather intimidating. 

The bugbear raised their staff with an ominous chant that echoed through the chamber. A gigantic wave of water appeared in front of them and crashed into the party. Their feet were swept out from underneath them as they were taken by the monstrous force of the water. They slammed into the back wall of the chamber, equipment and bodies cracking, and the water sunk away into the ground. Catra stumbled up to her feet first, her ears flattened against her head as pain coursed through her body. She threw the daggers with a growl. One sailed right into one of the massive thighs of the bugbear, and the other pierced through one of their ears. Adora coughed up salt water that burned her throat, and took in her surroundings. Bow and Glimmer were breathing heavily, looking to barely be holding onto consciousness. The halfling was the closest, so she reached over and channeled her divine energy with a prayer to Lathander. “Thanks,” Glimmer managed, though she was still far from completely healed.

Adora took to her feet and started making her way back to the bugbear, stumbling all the way as pain fought to keep her still. She stopped to catch her breath once more and ready her sword. Meanwhile, Glimmer scrambled to her feet, whipping up more of her chaotic energy, and set it free. This time the warbling mass transformed itself into a bolt of lightning that struck the bugbear, causing them to stumble back. Still, they stayed on their feet. “What’s it going to take to end this,” Glimmer whined mostly to herself. “I don’t know,” Bow groaned behind her. He took to his feet, tried to focus, but the pain throbbing in his arm made his next shot go wide. 

The bugbear grinned as they called and summoned vines that sprung from the ground. The vines easily entangled Catra, Bow, and Glimmer, holding them in place and squeezing the air out of their lungs. Only Adora was able to use her brute strength to burst out of the vines. She took a look back at her friends struggling, and resolved to implement her last hope. Storing her sword, she rushed forward and dove into the bugbear, sending them both crashing down down into the glowing shaft. 

“ADORA,” the trio screamed in unison. They began flailing at the vines holding them but it seemed the more they moved the tighter they squeezed. At the same time as a great crash reverberated up from the floor below, the vines suddenly disappeared. Catra sprinted forward, looking down and seeing Adora flat on her back at the bottom of what she guessed to be at least an eighty foot drop. Without waiting for the others, she leapt down into the hole, letting herself free fall until just before the shaft ended and she managed to grab hold of the vines and stop herself. In control of her momentum again, she let herself drop and rushed to the paladin’s side. “Adora, hey, Adora, stay with me,” she whimpered as she touched her face. 

“Did I get them,” Adora asked with gritted teeth and a shaking voice. Her eyes drifted closed but she fought to open them again and look back up at Catra. In fact, she had managed to slay the bugbear. Granted, she hadn’t pushed them into the hole with the intention of crushing them to death with her armored body. Lathander finds a way.

“You sure did, dummy,” the tabaxi said with a laugh, mentally begging the tears that had collected in her eyes not to fall, “I need you to focus and heal yourself, okay? You can do it.”

“How’s it going down there? Is she okay,” Glimmer called out from above, “Bow’s getting some rope ready.”

“I think so,” Catra answered, not taking her eyes off Adora as she struggled to make her magic work. She put her hands on Adora’s and guided them onto her bloodied face, “You just have to say it. Lathander will do the rest, okay? Come on, Adora. Don't give up.” 

The paladin nodded weakly and choked out the words. A radiant healing energy soared through her body. She took a deep breath for the first time since landing and smiled up at Catra before she asked teasingly, “Did you really jump down right after me? Wow.”

“Yeah, she’s fine, she’s back to being annoying,” Catra shouted up as she offered a hand to help Adora up. She made a disgusted face as she looked down at the crushed body of the bugbear, “Huh. Never seen someone kill someone else with their body before.”

“Not the first time my body’s taken someone’s breath away,” Adora said with a wink before she looked down and grimaced at the sight, “Yikes.” 

“Yeah, yikes. I can’t believe you’re being--” Catra started before a rope suddenly appeared in between them and Bow’s cheery voice rang out from above, “We’re ready for you!”

Catra climbed up first, agilely making her way up the shaft without the use of the rope once she reached it. Between the three of them, they managed to be strong enough to hold the rope in place as Adora made her way back up. Once they were on the same floor again, Adora bent forward and struggled to catch her breath, “Okay, what now?”

“We need to rest,” Catra said quickly, coming to Adora’s side and letting her put some of her weight onto her, as much as it was a struggle for her smaller body, “The room the goblins came from? I glanced in when we went by, seems like a bedroom or something. We could hole up in there for a while.” 

Everyone thought this sounded like a fine plan, and they slowly made their way back. The silence was only broken by pained groans as their wounds internal and external ached. Taking advantage of the fact that she was already touching Catra, Adora used the last of her healing energy on the tabaxi. 

“Thanks,” she whispered as she felt some of her pain lessen. Once they were in the room, Catra pointed to a large slab of stone that appeared to have fallen from the ceiling somewhere and was being used as a makeshift table, “Can you push that up against the door?” The paladin nodded and compiled as quickly as she could, barring her own exhaustion and wounds. As soon as she shoved it into place, everyone breathed a little easier as they let themselves relax.

“Alright, team. We’re going to get a short rest in here, and then we’ll get back--” the paladin was quickly cut off by Glimmer.

“We can’t keep going,” she pleaded with a big sigh as she slumped down on the floor against the wall, “I’ve exhausted all my stronger magic for the day… Bow has too.”

Adora did not seem satisfied by that excuse, “We can’t stop. Thalia… she’s waiting on us. We can’t be too late,” she said resolutely, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, “I’m not going to let her down. It’s not an option.”

Catra crossed the small room to put a hand on her shoulder, “You know I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t believe it, but Glimmer’s right. You’re out of healing magic, right?” She nodded, a frustrated tear escaping down her cheek, “It’s not going to do the kid any good if we all rush in and die, you know that. We’ve got a safe spot here. We’ll get some real rest and finish this tomorrow. Okay? I know you’re hurting too, you can barely walk. Falling almost a hundred feet does that to a person.” 

Adora whispered a quiet, “okay,” keeping her head low and unable to meet her eyes. Catra looked over at the other two, “Two watches, like last night. Keep your voices down. Eat, then cut the light.” 

“You got it,” Bow answered weakly. He moved across the room to sit with Glimmer by the barricaded door. 

Once she was done helping Adora out of her armor, Catra did a last once over of the room to make sure they hadn’t missed any secret entryways or some kind of trigger that would instantly murder them all. While she worked, Adora went about the now becoming rather familiar process of setting up their sleeping area in the corner of the room away from the door. She set the bedrolls up so that they were almost touching, and when the tabaxi made her way over to lay down she noticed with a raised eyebrow. 

“It’s pretty cold down here,” Adora explained awkwardly, “I thought.. You know body heat and all.”

“Can I sleep on the outside? I don’t like feeling trapped in corners,” she whispered and without protest Adora slid over. 

“I would’ve thought you’d like them, they’re so defensible and all,” Adora teased once the other woman laid down beside her.

“Not my style,” Catra whispered as she rolled over so they were facing each other, “Hey, Adora… I know you’re worried about Thalia, but… it’ll be okay. We’ll get the apple or figure out something else.” Seeing the paladin’s willingness to sacrifice herself had melted what little resolve she had left in considering betraying the cause. Truthfully, the more she had thought back to the sweet girl who managed to look at a monster like her and see something special like a princess, there wasn’t much left anyway. Maybe she could find something equally interesting to offer the captain. 

“I hope so,” Adora said with an uneasy breath. They laid there in silence together for a few minutes before Adora noticed the shaking under Catra’s blanket. “Are you okay,” she asked quietly.

“I’m fine, still getting used to the temperature down here,” she said as she rolled over and pulled the blanket tighter around herself, but her shivering persisted. 

Adora scooted so she was on the edge of her roll and whispered, “You’re freezing, don’t be ridiculous.” She held out her arms and the tabaxi sighed as she moved back into them, “See, not so bad. Plus, now you know I’m not going anywhere.” 

“Fine,” Catra mumbled, allowing herself to be held for the first time since she left home. Not bad at all, she thought to herself.

\---

Bow and Glimmer sat in silence for the first half of their watch as they privately contemplated the events of the day. “So,” the halfling whispered finally, “How are you feeling? Because… I’m feeling a lot of things.”

“Yeah, me too,” Bow answered back with a hint of sadness, “It’s a… a pretty big leap to go from talking about killing things… people… and then actually _doing_ it.”

“True, but… it’s also… if not them, it would be us, right? That makes it okay,” she whispered the last part as though she wasn’t sure if it was a question or a factual statement.

“I guess so. I wonder what is really going on with the whole apple situation. It doesn’t make sense to me,” he admitted, decidedly steering the conversation away from moral quandary.

“Nothing down here makes sense to me,” Glimmer noted with a small laugh. She gestured over into the dark corner where the rest of their party was sleeping, “Like… remember when Catra said that thing about sensing magic? That’s weird. She says she doesn’t know magic, but…”

“But you think she’s just secretly casting detect magic with none of us noticing,” Bow asked with a raised eyebrow, “That doesn’t make sense either. Maybe she meant like looking for runes or glowing things. You should ask her about it.”

“I am absolutely not doing that. She’ll get all defensive and evil,” the halfling said immediately, “And she probably wouldn't tell the truth anyway. If she knows magic and she’s hiding it… we’ve got to watch her more closely.”

“Aw, Glimmer, how can you say that? I mean look,” he said pointing at the two, although realizing that Glimmer likely couldn’t make out the details in the dark, “She’s a cuddly cat. What’s so scary about that? Quit making her out to be a bad guy.” 

\---

When Catra and Adora were woken for their watch, the rogue refused to let the paladin put back on her armor. “Your body is still recovering, let it rest,” she argued, “I doubt anyone is getting through that door before we have a chance to get it back on you if need be.” Adora mumbled a protest groggily but ultimately left the armor on the ground. Instead she picked up only her blanket and met Catra over at the barricade where she wrapped it around both of their shoulders as they slumped against the wall.

“I wonder if horsey is okay,” Adora pondered wistfully as she pulled some rations out of her bag for the two of them.

“I’m sure the horses are fine,” Catra said with a bewildered laugh, “I can’t believe after a day like today that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I’m worried about a lot of things,” Adora handed over the dried meat to the tabaxi and chewed on some hard bread in thought. 

“Well, stop it,” Catra teased, using her tail to swat at Adora, “Come on. What else is in that big head?”

Adora hummed to herself before she smirked, “You know, I've been wondering about something. For being really very tough, you sure shrieked at that big rat earlier. What’s the deal with that, huh?”

“Ouch, making fun of my childhood trauma. Wow, Adora, I bet Lathander is proud,” Catra prodded as she put a hand over her heart and looked hurt. Seeing the blonde’s eyes turn wide and worried again, she sighed and her ears flattened against her head as she decided to explain, “The town I grew up in is mostly populated by humans. There’s a handful of halflings, elves, and such. But… no one like me. And kids are assholes,” she paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, “What better way to tease the half cat kid with the big stupid ears and shit than finding new and cruel ways to scare them with rodents?”

“Oh that’s awful,” Adora squeaked out, reaching up to gingerly stroke one of her ears before taking her hand back, “I think you’re.. Your ears are lovely.”

“Thanks,” Catra whispered and took a few more breaths before continuing, “Anyway, it pretty much kept on for a couple of years til my tabaxi mom found out about it. I don’t know _what_ she did, but those kids never bothered me again.” She chuckled a little at the memory, “Probably threatened to curse them or something. _Maybe_ actually did curse them. You think I can be a hot head, I’ve got nothing on Night. She’s fucking scary when someone messes with us... or if she's losing a game, a total bad sport."

“Night?” Adora questioned hopefully.

Catra sighed and admitted, “Night of Dreams.” Even in the dim light Catra could see the giant smile this gave her, “Yeah, yeah. Don’t think this means I am telling you mine.” 

“It’s only a matter of time,” Adora nudged her shoulder into her, “So, Night of Dreams and lame human mom, they’re back home? Wherever home is…”

The tabaxi gave a quiet shocked gasp, “How _dare_ you talk about Adelaide that way. Not all humans are lame like you,” she bopped Adora on the forehead, “And yeah... They’re back home, being sappy and terribly domestic with each other. I write home when I get a chance so they know I’m okay. If I don’t the next thing I know I’ve got a nagging voice in my head with twenty-five or so angry, loving words.”

“That must be nice,” the human commented as she envied her friend, “You know, knowing wherever you are they’re back home caring about you.”

Catra felt a small smile creep onto her lips, “Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t complain that my moms annoyingly love me. Alright, that’s enough of me rambling about myself. Why don’t you tell me something that will make you stupidly happy… how about where your childlike obsession with horses started?”

And so Adora launched into her horse girl tales. Catra truly wasn’t that interested, but it was worth it to hear the joy in Adora’s hushed voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof! This one took me a longer time to write than usual. I hope the combat bits read okay even if you're not DND familiar! In the context of a real game, each person/baddie/etc goes in turns that make up a round. So I tried to write it in such a way that it went in the initiative I had in my head as opposed to just a 1v1 fighting til someone's down.
> 
> Um.. dnd fun fact for this chapter: bugbears aren't bears at all. They're real big goblinoids. (I didn't know that for a long time even playing DND. I always imagined them looking very beary).
> 
> All questions, comments, and thoughts are appreciated!
> 
> (Catra used magic this chapter. Did you catch it?)


	13. Blight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rests and exploration.

Adora’s horse tales continued on for nearly an hour with her long, drawn out explanation of the various horses she helped to care for in her town’s stable. It wasn’t even a paying job from what Catra could tell. She did it merely for the experience, and it sounded like she knew more about the animals than their own owners. Each one had its own little eccentricities that she detailed with such enthusiasm that the typically grumpy rogue listened to with an interested smile rather than annoyed frown. Finally, she detailed how her mentor had helped to train her for combat on her horse. Adora had been putting aside some of her earnings from various small jobs to purchase one and their necessary equipment. When her horse induced fervor settled, the paladin began to slowly drift back towards sleep during gaps in the conversation. When her head landed on Catra’s shoulder, the tabaxi decided to let her rest. It had been quite a day. She pondered how she might prevent future ‘throwing oneself down a hole’ style sacrificial moves from the paladin as she brought the blanket in more securely around her side. 

Finally, nearly the end of the watch, Adora’s eyes drifted back open. After a few groggy seconds they focused and met blue and gold ones staring down at her. She quickly realized she was laying across Catra’s lap and sprung back up to sit beside her again. “Sorry,” she whispered, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you… the watch. Wake me up next time. It’s not fair.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” the tabaxi grinned, “I’m sure your body was really tired from, you know, falling to what should’ve been certain death. I can’t decide if it’s your god or landing on the bugbear that saved you… maybe a little of both.”

“Definitely both,” Adora said with a yawn as she stretched, “How long was I out?”

“It almost time to wake up the others, if that’s any indication,” Catra saw the guilt beginning to creep onto Adora’s face, “Listen, it’s okay. You were tired. I didn’t hear anything all night. You know me well enough now, do you really think I’d let you keep sleeping if it bugged me?”

“I guess that’s true,” she reasoned as a smile crept back onto her face.

Catra paused as she considered how to begin this next part, “I know I said that you should be the one calling the shots down here, but… I need you to get in your big head that you can’t pull another stunt like that again, okay?” Catra narrowed her eyes to look at Adora intimidatingly.

“ _Is_ my head big? I’ve spent my whole life thinking it’s a normal size. You're giving me a complex,” she joked as she tried to dodge the topic.

“Adora, this is important. I don’t know what your faith or whatever told you, but there is no benefit to me or the others if you die,” she held out one of her hands and began counting, “One, it’s strategically bad in a fight to be down in numbers. Two, you’re the only one who knows healing magic right now. That means if you go down, no one is coming back up. Three, if we managed to survive, we’d all be too freaked out over your stupid dead body to do whatever we came here to do.”

“Four, you’d miss me,” Adora added with a grin before getting serious, “I didn’t think about all that, I guess. If I’m being honest, that was the only time I’ve ever I thought I could lose in a fight. I panicked. I thought I’d be able to grab the vines on the way down like you did.”

“But you’re slow and heavy, dummy,” the tabaxi said with a laugh as she nudged her shoulder, “Promise me you won’t pull shit like that again?”

“I promise I won’t. Unless it’s absolutely-“ she was stopped there as Catra put her hand over her mouth.

“Please sit here until this watch is over and pray to your god for more intelligence, thanks,” she whispered harshly.

After some time and quiet prayer, the two started back up their friendly chatter again. Eventually Adora asked, “Should I go ahead and wake up the others?”

“Sure, just don’t kick them. We don’t need to be wasting healing so early in the day,” Catra came up to her feet and stretched, “Oh, I am so going to pay you back for that and the screaming. I’ve got some fantastic ideas.” 

“I can’t wait,” Adora urged her on before she walked over and bent down to gently nudge Glimmer’s shoulder with a sweet and soft, “Good morning.” She could hear a noise of annoyance from the other side of the room. 

Adora took the lead once everyone was conscious, fed, and geared up for the day. She stood pacing in the center of the room while the other three looked on, “Alright. Here’s the plan. If no one has cleared the, um, bodies,” she choked on the word before regaining her composure, “from yesterday, we should inspect them to see if we can find anything useful. Then, we’re going to need to get down to the next floor.” Catra put on a face of concern as she raised her hand, “I swear if you’re about to ask me if I’m going to throw everyone down the hole….” the hand went down, “We’ll see if there’s another way down, if not, we can rig up something with the rope.” 

“If we see more of the goblinoid clan, are we just supposed to assume they’re hostile,” Bow asked with a conflicted look on his face, “We don’t know if they’re all a part of what they were talking about with the apple or if they’re scared of us because we don’t belong here.”

“We’ll keep doing what we’ve been doing. Try to talk first and go from there,” the paladin answered confidently before considering something, “Do you think it’s possible the bugbear we fought last night was their leader?”

“I don’t think so,” Glimmer chimed in, “Based on what I know about their culture, normally the hobgoblins are at the top.”

“Keep an eye out for a hobgoblin that looks important, got it. Anything else we should be thinking about?” After a few moments of tense silence, she finished, “Great. Let’s do this!” 

With a show of strength, she lifted the giant piece of stonework they had used to barricade themselves in and moved it aside like it was nothing. The other three watched in awe before following her out into the hall where they were met with the gruesome reminder of the fight. Everyone but Catra winced and looked away once they noticed the bodies of the slain goblins. She made an annoyed scoff before bending down to the one closest and started digging through his pockets.

“You know, you’re going to have to get used to things dying around you if you want to keep up this hero stuff,” she scolded the others as she finished inspecting the first goblin, coming up empty, before moving on to the next. The only item of note was a silver flask that made the tabaxi gag as she opened and smelled its contents, “Got some great quality wine here if you’d like to be diseased.”

Glimmer came up beside her and watched suspiciously as she got up only holding the flask, “Not today. There really wasn’t anything else?” She looked up directly into Catra's eyes as she asked, holding her gaze trying to get insight into the truth.

“No, Sparkles, unless you’d like to do a quick cavity search to double check, there’s nothing here that’s useful,” Catra said dismissively as she poured out silver flask. The gross liquid splashed up from the floor beside the halfling who jumped back in reaction. She smirked and added, “I think this thing will go for some coin at least.”

“We’re not here to steal,” Glimmer said sharply as she put her hands on her hips. 

“Excuse me, dead goblin, do you mind me taking your flask,” Catra asked as she looked down at the still body before meeting eyes with the halfling, “He said do whatever you want, I’m super dead.” She shoved the flask down into her backpack after checking for opposition from Adora and Bow, who both shrugged.

They moved further down the hall into the room that had nearly been their end the day before. Catra pressed an ear to the door to make sure it was safe, and, hearing nothing of interest, carefully moved the group in. Thankfully, it was the same scene they’d left. The rogue went about the process of inspecting the fallen, and the rest of the party searched the room for any kind of route down to the next floor. Unfortunately, even after tugging on every misplaced looking stone and potential lever they saw, no secret passageways opened up. Bow unraveled his rope and began knotting it to allow for easier climbing while Adora went to work driving a piton into the ground by the hole. Glimmer did her best to keep an eye on the tabaxi while feigning interest in what the other two were working on.

On the body of the remaining goblin, Catra found a few smaller denomination coins that she laid out beside her. The same was the case for one of the fallen kobolds, but the other also had a key as well as a scroll of some kind. She unraveled it and was trying to make out what spell it might be for, when Glimmer emerged beside her and snatched for it, “No need for you to look at that, right, Catra? You’re the only one who doesn’t use magic. Now let’s see,” she hummed to herself while reading over the scroll. The tabaxi rolled her eyes, but didn’t fight back having already determined it was a scroll she neither wanted nor could use. “Interesting,” Glimmer noted to herself while walking back over to the other two with the scroll, “You’re the only one with the right kind of magic for this, Adora. You should hang on to it.”

The paladin gave one last blow to the piton to make sure it would hold, and then spun around to accept the scroll from the halfling, “Huh. Zone of truth. I guess I’ve heard of that one. I wonder why one of them had this?” 

“I’m not sure, but it’s ours now and I think it could _really_ come in handy,” Glimmer said with a not so subtle glance over to the rogue who was finishing up. 

Bow raised an eyebrow and whispered to her in Elvish, “I thought we weren’t here to steal? Stop acting like we’re not all on the same team, Glim. We’re in this together, her too.”

“You’re too nice to understand,” Glimmer whisper yelled back in the same language, “I have a bad feeling about her, and I’m not just going to ignore it.”

By now the rogue had come over to join the group and was watching the conversation. She leaned in to Adora and whispered, “Know elvish?” The paladin shook her head no, “Me neither. If you two are done having a secret conversation about killing us, I think we’re ready to go now. Other than the scroll, I found a key and some small coins. Left those by the bodies, if anyone’s interested in loading themselves down with copper.” Without waiting for an answer, she eased into the hole and began climbing down the shaft using her claws in the sides rather than the rope. Once she got to the end, she let herself drop down with finesse as she had the day prior. She quickly moved out of the way of the center in case Adora’s clumsiness decided to up its kill count to two. After the slow and steady work of each person climbing the rope was finished, Catra began trying to salvage anything from the crushed body of the bugbear. Even she was repulsed by the action this time.

Adora felt nauseous. Instead of staying to watch, she began to wander around in the room. Crossing a dividing wall brought her into a small garden, and she was first taken by how strange it was to see so far from the sun. Even more surprising than that was the duo of skeletons who were working the land. They seemed utterly at peace until a quick gasp from the human brought their attention her way. Raising their gardening tools as implements of destruction, the skeletons slunk towards Adora as she readied her sword. “Um, guys,” she called back over her shoulder, “I may have made some skeletons mad.” Without waiting for a response, she rushed the closest one and slammed into its center with her sword, serving the spine. 

The sound of bones clattering to the ground filled the garden. She pumped a fist and said a quiet, “Yes!” to herself. Her moment of celebration was punctuated by the crashing of a shovel across the back of her head. Her vision went dark for a few seconds. It was long enough for her to miss the arrow flying past her and into the skeleton. All she knew was she caught the sound of feathers cutting the air. The arrow pierced into the cavity that once held an eye and into the back of the skull, but it kept its shaky advance forward. Her eyes focused again and this time were met with a blur of maroon that rushed past as the tabaxi dealt the re-killing blow to the creature. “You alright there, dummy? You can’t afford blows to the head,” the tabaxi asked as she spun back around and reached up on her tiptoes to pull the paladin’s head down and check for bleeding. 

“I’m fine,” Adora protested with a blush creeping onto her cheeks as she was released, “I was surprised, that’s all. Gardening skeletons? Who would've thought?”

Glimmer made it into the small room and looked disappointed, “I missed all the action! Stupid short legs,” she mumbled to herself. 

After a cursory glance through the small garden to make sure nothing was of interest, the group set back out into the main room. Catra caught Adora up on what they had been able to recover from the body, “The remains of what I think _was_ a potion before you smashed it to hell, a couple of scrolls I gave to wild magic, and more keys. Sadly, no scrolls detailing their evil plans about the apple.”

Bow upped his pace so that he was side by side with the rogue as he quipped, “Darn, why can’t the evil villain be like in books,” which earned him a small smirk from the tabaxi, “If you want a break, I can scout ahead today.”

“Be my guest,” Catra offered as she swung an arm out in front of her in a grand gesture towards the many different paths connecting to the room, “I don’t know which way to go, anyway.” Adora furrowed her brow at the tabaxi’s words. Something about them brought up a fuzzy memory, but she couldn’t quite connect to what. She decided to chalk it up to the rattling of her brain against her skull. Catra dropped her speed and let herself line up with the paladin. She leaned in and whispered to her, “Plus, I need to babysit you so you stop running off before you get yourself killed. I’ll hold your hand if I have to.” Adora replied awkwardly as her eyes widened, “Oh no, don’t do that…” 

Glimmer followed along at the back doing her best to read the scrolls she had been given while not running into anything. She cheered when she finally got one figured out, “Expeditious retreat! If someone can get our hands on the apple, I could cast this on them to be able to get it to safety.”

“Good plan, Glim,” Bow assured her from the front where he had decided on taking the group down a central hallway for no particular reason, but if asked, he’d say it was his special ranger intuition for tracking. The hallway was marked by marble columns that had carvings of draconic runes and scenes, most of them covered in some kind of luminescent fungus. The space widened and small, open rooms jutted off to the sides that contained small wooden tables laden with various herbalism and alchemist supplies -- mortar and pestles, tools, bowls and vials filled with strange substances. Catra whispered as they moved through the space, “ _Do not_ touch the fungus, please.” 

They progressed through the area with as quiet a step as possible, glancing into each side room to confirm it was empty. It was hopeless, however. The metal on metal of Adora’s armor was too much to be hidden, and from one of the last side rooms appeared a goblin. He was not dressed nor prepared for battle. He eyed the group with suspicion before asking, “What are you doing here? Did Belak send you?”

“Yes,” Catra offered as she gracefully moved up in front of the group, “Belak did send us. We’re supposed to check on the,” she glanced around to the room and ventured a guess, “experiment.”

“Oh,” the goblin pondered as he rubbed his chin, “Yes, yes. Come, I will show you Cynthia.” 

And so the group followed the goblin into a space where he had a giant rat strapped to one of the small wooden tables. The tabaxi’s mismatched eyes flared with anxiety briefly before Adora slipped a hand onto her shoulder and took over. “Cynthia has seen some better days,” the paladin noted thoughtfully as she looked down at the rat whose body was covered in bulbous forms that looked wooden, “I can see why Belak sent us to check on her.” 

“Uh huh,” the goblin nodded as he offered a small berry to the animal. She chomped it down and her frantic movements calmed, “I told him this was bad for her. You humans like to play like a god, but Cynthia only gets worse. She bit Doc! Now he’s turning wood too. Had to lock him in his room! Terrible, terrible. Will you ask Belak to fix her? He will not listen to Zarn.”

“Of course, we will definitely tell him. Poor thi.. girl,” Adora offered as sincerely as possible as she looked over the rat, making sure to keep herself from biting distance. She glanced back to the trio, who had backed their way to the point where they were more in the hall than in the room. She shrugged and looked at them to communicate that she didn’t know what to do.

“Zarn,” Bow called from his spot in the hall, “Do you know where he’d be right now? We spoke with him in the garden last night, but I can't remember where he said to meet with after we checked in on Cynthia.”

“Belak is where Belak is always, the tree,” the goblin said as he gave a sympathetic pet to the rat, “Must keep going, down and down. You find him there. Please hurry, I worry.” 

“The Gulthias Tree, of course, how could we forget it,” Bow answered while keeping his eyes averted from the scene, “Hey, did you hear about what happened to the apple? Crazy right?”

“Oh yes, very strange. I do not know why Righarr wanted it back. We make much money at auction. Maybe the apple could heal Cynthia? Belak put it back on tree,” Zarn yawned as he sat down in a small chair beside the table, “You ask him about that for me too?”

“Certainly,” Adora answered quickly before starting to usher the group out, “We will get right to that, Zarn. Thanks. You and Cynthia have a nice morning. Bye!”

Once they were far enough down another passageway that they hoped led to stairs, Glimmer spoke up, “That was pretty amazing, you guys!”

“Thank you, thank you,” Bow said with a small bow as he walked, “I can’t believe that worked. I feel sorry for Zarn… not sure about Cynthia though.”

Catra shuttered and shook her head, “Definitely not. So let’s break this down. We have a Righarr, that sounds like a bugbear name to me. Could be who Adora crushed.”

“Could you stop leading with that,” Adora whined, “That’s a fair assumption though… and this Belak? He’s a human… I wonder why he’s here? I don’t think I’ve ever known a human to live with a goblinoid clan.”

“Clearly to do some kind of nasty combination of magic and science,” Glimmer ranted as she gestured back towards where they came, “That was like nothing I’ve ever seen before and it _transfers_ through bite. Anyone doing something like that has to be stopped!”

Bow was able to lead the group with more than intuition now, because the tracks of fellow humanoids were easy for his trained eyes to make out in comparison to the other beings who resided in the fortress. After nearly an hour of stealthily making their way down the halls behind him, they found themselves at the top of a set of stairs. “Okay, I think this is it, guys,” he said cautiously as he looked back.

“This feels too easy,” Adora noted suspiciously, considering how they had not seen another soul but the goblin and his rat friend. 

“Gods, Adora,” Catra groaned as she held her forehead in her hands, “Don’t ever say that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only dnd fun fact I have for this one is that I did level up the group overnight (ABG - lvl 3, C- lvl 4 [decided on a boring ASI bump to dex instead of a cool feat, sue me... no don't, plz], though I am still debating how I'm going to narratively work that in. Kind of funny to think right? Just you wake up after some fights and suddenly you can do more magic/move faster/etc? In my previous games we described it as revelations through dreams a lot of times for those that didn't just study magic.
> 
> I TAKE IT BACK. I do have another: halflings have a base speed of 25ft per turn. So Glimmer is the slowest. Adora, Bow, and Catra all have base speeds of 30ft. BUT --- Catra as a half-tabaxi rogue can be ungodly fast. She has the ability to move her 30 ft, take the dash action as her cunning action (a rogue feature that lets them choose to do a dodge, dash, or hide action on top of their attacks), and she has a feature called 'feline agility' which lets her double her speed til the end of her turn. She a real fast cat.


	14. Barkskin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventuring party finally is face to face with the menacing Gulthias Tree and its sworn followers. Negotiations quickly turn to battle, and an unlikely ally joins in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy the -almost- wrap-up of this first quest. I really love reading and responding to everyone's comments. If you have any thoughts to share, I'd appreciate them! It always makes my day.

They made their way down into the last floor of the fortress, as always, slowly and as quietly as possible. At this level nature had taken hold more and more as plants shot up from the cracks in the stone, though no natural light was feeding them. The path was lit with a few torches spread out along the walls. Bow and Catra stayed ahead of the other two, the ranger looking for new tracks and the rogue guiding them away from potential triggers. Adora took up the back, trying her best to move as quietly as possible. 

After winding their way through, Bow finally held up his hand and motioned for the others to stop behind him. He knelt down and peered around the corner into a massive, dome shaped chamber that held another corrupted garden. The area was lit by unnaturally glowing fungus that decorated the ceiling. At the back of the courtyard stood what must be the Gulthias Tree, a dark and twisted plant that resembled a skeletal hand clawing its way out of the earth. Its branches were empty save for one in the center from which hung a red apple which shone bright in contrast to the dark scene. At the base of the tree stood what at first he thought were merely more plants, but these woody shrubs had a humanoid shape and were ambling around the courtyard. A man dressed in simple, green clothing stood in conversation with a hobgoblin dressed for battle with chainmail and a shield on his back. 

Bow looked back at the others and whispered, “We’re here. Now what?” He readied an arrow in his bow in case anything were to advance. 

Catra crept up so that she was able to view into the space as well and then whispered back, “I don’t see us getting that apple without having to confront whatever the fuck is going on here. Bow and I could probably sneak in and get the drop on them if you’re not in the mood for negotiations. Your call, Adora.” 

Adora was frozen in thought for a minute as she tried to weigh out the options in her mind. Her inclination had been to try to keep peace, but the ominous sight of the room and its occupants made her doubt that was possible. She unsteathed her sword and prepared her shield as she commanded, “We go in together and we go in _ready._ No hiding like we’re afraid of them. I want them to think twice about taking this to a fight.”

Glimmer and Bow looked positively thrilled by this idea. Catra let herself take a sharp exhale before fixing her face to a smile, “Ok. Walking in like we own the place, let’s get ready,” she said towards Adora before she turned her head back and whispered low enough that only Bow could barely hear, “and just giving up the strategic benefit of stealth… great.” 

The party began their last minute preparations, pep talks, and prayers. Glimmer spoke some arcane words to herself as she worked her hands in a rhythm before placing a hand on heart. Briefly, she was lit up by a glittering force that covered her whole body as the gem in her necklace lit up. Once it seemed everyone was as ready as could be, Adora led the group into the courtyard. When the sound of their unstealthy approach began to echo through the chamber, the human and hobgoblin turned from their talk to regard the disturbance. “Belak,” Adora called out in her most intimidating voice, “We are here on behalf of the town of Oakhurst. The apple was a part of a fair deal. If you return it, there will be no need for violence.”

“Welcome. I am honored that you know my name, though I do not know yours. What an interesting little group,” the druid replied affably as he moved forward. The twig blight creatures moved to flank around him, “I’m afraid that I have nothing to do with the bartering of the blessed fruit. I was merely allowing the goblins to take it up top in order to spread its seeds and colonize the world with the tree’s children. No matter now. Gleemo, here, and Righarr have done a fine job convincing the others to follow my lead.”

“We are **not** leaving here without that apple,” Adora punctuated the statement by closing her eyes and concentrating her divine energy into her weapon. It began to glow with a bright light that radiated for twenty feet out from her, “What terms will you agree to?”

The druid turned his head to the side as he analyzed the group, “My apologies, there are no terms I’d agree to for the apple this season. I need it in case my experiment goes wrong. It would be _hard_ to find such a specimen to try again.” He gestured back near the tree where a cage was housing a small white dragon, “A combination of this one’s natural magic with the blessings of the Gulthias Tree, it will be a thing of utmost beauty and power! Yet, it is such a delicate process. If it goes wrong, as it did with my first trial, only the apple could reverse the process and allow me to start again. So, you can see why I cannot allow the apple to be sold or traded this season. Run along now and explain that to the fine people of Oakhurst.”

While everyone’s focus was on the growing tension between the paladin and the druid, Catra crept back slowly until she lined up with the wall and hid herself in whatever shadows were still available. She pulled out the wire from her backpack and spoke into it quietly and her voice rang in Adora’s mind, “Call me a cynic, but talking isn’t going to work. I am going to get closer to the tree in case we need to grab the apple and run.” The paladin whispered back a simple, “Okay. Be safe.” “Always am,” the tabaxi replied as she sank her claws into the wall and began to slowly climb her way to the tree.

“Like she said, we’re not leaving here without the apple, ” Glimmer growled as she moved forward and began preparing a spell in her hands, “And we’ll be returning Calcryx.”

“Very well,” Belak then performed a magic ritual which turned his skin from ghastly pale to a rough, bark like appearance matching the tree, “What do you say, Gleemo? I believe these ones will make fine supplicants to the tree.”

Gleemo gave a toothy grin as he nodded his head, “Agreed.”

With that, the time for peaceful negotiation was officially over. Belak held a wand that looked as though it was made from tangled tree limbs, and spoke a command word that caused vines to erupt from the ground below the trio. “Not again,” Glimmer groaned as she found herself squeezed in by the vines. Adora easily burst her way through their grasp, and Bow successfully pushed out with all his might to do the same. The druid looked displeased with the result, and he backed up to put more distance between him and the adventurers. Catra watched from her spot on the wall, happy to see that the spell had mostly failed. Rather than risking giving away her position, she continued climbing along the wall slow and steady, staying as high as possible without touching the suspicious fungus. 

The hobgoblin raised his longsword high and rushed forward, meeting Adora in the middle of the space. He slashed towards her with all of his strength, but the paladin brought her shield up to block him with a smug look on her face. In return, she swung on him with her own sword and managed to land a hit on his shoulder that crackled with radiant energy. He stumbled back with a groan but looked all the more ready to strike her down next. 

Glimmer, still caught in the vines, risked trying a spell she had not yet perfected yet. As she focused and spoke a command word, her necklace glowed and she was briefly surrounded by a silvery mist. Then, she was gone. She reappeared ten feet to the right of the druid. Belak spun and looked around for the missing halfling, and she called out, “Looking for me?” before she hurled a bolt of fire at him that struck on his chest. 

“Glim,” Bow shouted proudly from across the chamber, “You misty stepped! I’m so proud!”

“Uh, Bow, still fighting here,” Adora commented as she continued standing her ground against the hobgoblin. 

“Right, sorry!” He focused and channeled his magic into targeting the druid, “This is for Cynthia!” He let the arrow fly and it struck true into the man’s arm, causing him to drop the wand. 

The twig creatures quickly rose to their master’s defense and started to charge towards Glimmer, surrounding her on all sides. A few of their claws were deflected by the magical armor she had surrounded herself in before entering the chamber, but the rest made their way through and sunk into her skin. “I’m going to enjoy burning you ugly things,” she yelled as they swiped at her, raising deep, red claw marks on her arms and legs. 

“You won’t have the chance to hurt my darlings,” Belak taunted as he extended his hand towards Glimmer and a puff of noxious gas rushed towards her and into her lungs. She doubled over, struggling to catch her breath as the poison burned through her body’s system. 

“God damn it, wild magic, get out of there,” Catra mumbled to herself as she stopped her advance to the tree. Taking advantage of the fact that no one’s attention was on her, she called forth her arcane magic and created three glowing darts of magical force. With perfect aim, they crashed into the chest of the druid and he began staggering. She tucked herself up into the shadows once more, unseen by the druid and anyone else, she hoped. 

Gleemo raised his sword again and this time managed to find a weak point in Adora’s armor. She grunted in pain but rose to meet him once more. Her next strike hit more weakly than the last, but still managed to do some damage. Her eyes whipped around the room and caught sight of Glimmer looking as though she was about to drop, “Glimmer! Fall back!”

The halfling took a shaky breath before she once again became encased in the silvery mist, this time popping up beside the cage of the dragon. The wild magic surged up from inside her being and she was surrounded by three illusory duplicates of herself. Her lungs still burning, she managed to focus and speak to the creature quietly in draconic, “We’re friends, Meepo told us about you and asked us to save you. Will you help us?” The dragon nodded her head enthusiastically, unsure which Glimmer to look at, “Yes, friends of Papa Meepo!” And so, though it wasn’t her speciality, the sorceress began to tinker with the lock on the cage to free the potential new ally. 

Bow’s next arrow managed to go slightly too wide, striking into the tree rather than the druid. This move in particular seemed to infuriate Belak and his twig blights. The latter began dashing the ranger’s way with their small, twiggy legs. The druid moved forward and with a flourish of his hands, spoke words that rang through the consciousness of Bow, “You and I should be friends. Why don’t you come here and I can teach you about the tree?” The ranger lowered his weapon and looked dazed.

Catra finally was in position to be able to try for the apple. She reached her hand out and a spectral duplicate of it appeared in the tree. She willed it to be invisible as she moved her real hand and mimed the act of pulling the fruit from the branch. With a snap, it broke free and she began calling it back her way. Once it was within range, she grabbed for it with her real hand and quickly stowed it in her backpack. She was feeling great about the whole matter, until she found herself face to face with a giant frog that had leapt from the tree. The beast latched a piercing bite into her leg and proceeded to attempt to drag her down to the ground. “God damn it,” she growled to herself as she wiggled her leg uselessly trying to free herself.

The hobgoblin and Adora continued their sword fight. Gleemo landed a staggering blow on Adora that nearly knocked her off her feet. Blood was beginning to flow down her arm and making her grip on her weapon slippery. It was time to end this, she decided. She called forth her connection to her god and channeled a divine smite into her next strike. Finally, the hobgoblin fell with a clatter of his weapons and body to the ground. She scanned the battlefield, and managed to catch sight of Catra on the wall struggling with the frog. She rushed that way as she shouted back at Bow, “I’ve got to help Catra. Focus on the druid.” The ranger nodded dumbly.

Glimmer and her trio of duplicates had sadly not made any progress on solving the lock. Instead, she whispered to the dragon, “Stand back!” She scooted as far back as she could in the cage as Glimmer stepped back and focused a firebolt at the lock. While it was heated, she smacked into it with her quarterstaff and the lock came free… as did the dragon. Calcryx rushed forward and flew up high into the chamber. “I hope that was a good idea,” the sorceress whispered to herself. She began making her way around the back of the tree. 

Bow walked forward and stood in front of the druid with a smile on his face, “Hey, Belak. Sorry about that. I think we just got off on the wrong foot. I’d love to learn more about the tree.” The druid gave him a warm smile back, “No worries, my new friend. Please, go stand by the tree, and we’ll begin our lessons in just a moment.” The ranger followed his friend’s suggestion and stood with his back against the twisted tree. The twig blights, no longer seeing him as a threat, retreated once more to be beside their master. Glimmer, seeing this whole scene mouthed to herself, “What the fuck?” 

Belak looked over at Adora and saw what she was rushing to, “You must have woken up Kulket. What an interesting creature you have caught, my froggy friend, it will be fascinating to see how the tree bonds with a cat.” He conjured a vine-like whip covered in thorns that he willed to lash out at Catra and cling to free leg. He mimed pulling back with the whip and the tabaxi struggled to hold her grasp but was yanked from the wall. The sound of her body crashing to the floor reverberated through the chamber.

As she groaned into the ground two thoughts hit her at once, “At least I didn’t fall on the apple” and “I don’t think I can stand.” She didn’t have time to consider either of these for longer than a second, as the frog was swiftly tumbling down after her and she had just a moment left to react. She reached for her daggers and threw them up at the frog, one flying passed its head and the other hitting its mark in his belly. The creature crashed onto her, forcing the last air out of her lungs as she fell unconscious. The frog gave a decidedly evil croak and hopped its way to its master. 

Before Adora took a step towards the dying tabaxi, the druid called out to her mockingly, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I think it’s about time that you and your remaining friends leave this place. One command and the tree shall begin consuming your ranger friend.” 

“That’s very interesting,” Adora noted as she stowed her sword, “It sounds to me like you’re scared to keep fighting us. That’s good. You should be.”

With that, she hurried forward to Catra’s side and placed her hands on the tabaxi’s chest, willing all of her pool of healing magic into her. The tabaxi’s eyes shot back up open with panic and settled once she recognized the paladin, “Hey, Adora,” she rasped out. The paladin helped her to her feet and they stood shoulder to shoulder, glaring at the druid and the frog. While his attention was on them, Glimmer moved her way around the tree and grabbed Bow’s hand to start leading him away. He started to protest, “Glimmer! He said for me to wait here. He’s nice, you guys are over reacting. He’s going to teach me about the tree. Wait, why are there four of you?” 

The halfling said harshly, “Bow! He just said he was going to have the tree consume you. Does that sound like a fucking friend to you?!” The ranger shook his head and tried to reconcile this revelation with the feeling in his mind. Suddenly, it all made sense. He did not know this man, and he most certainly was not his friend. He let Glimmer pull him away. Once they were safely out of the tree’s range, the sorceress built up a mass of chaotic energy. While she pulled at the weave of magic, she focused on manipulating the core of the spell. She hurled it forth, and to her delight, the bolt split into two twinned streams of acid that seared their way into her foes. The giant frog gave one last croak and fell to the ground.

“Hey, friend,” Bow called out as he stepped forward, his bow back out and aimed at the druid, “I think it’s over.”

“Wait, wait,” Belak begged as he held his hands up and fell to his knees, “I surrender!”

“If you truly surrender, we will be taking you--” Adora started to make her terms, happy that perhaps another unnecessary death could be avoided.

However, dragons, especially juvenile ones, do not care if you surrender. Calcryx descended from her perch on high and exhaled an icy blast of hail in a cone that covered the druid and his last allies, the twig blights. Pleased with herself for destroying her enemies, she flew down and sat beside Glimmer and looked up at her with hopeful eyes, “Is it time to see Papa Meepo now?” 

“Um, yes, of course,” Glimmer answered in nervous draconic, “We just need to get the apple and we can go see him.”

“Okay, the dragon is our friend, right?” Bow asked wearily as he watched the conversation he couldn’t understand and gave a friendly wave, “Hi Calcryx.” 

“Damn! I was really hoping we’d get to take him alive. I guess the gods can’t hold that one against us,” Adora whined mostly to herself and then turned around to assess the apple situation. Her steel blue eyes and face lit up with horror as she cried out, “Wait! What happened?! The apple’s gone. He must… did he… oh Lathander, why,” she started panicking before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see Catra holding out the apple with a smug smile on her face, imitating the one she was more often on the receiving end of.

“I told you I was going to grab it,” Catra said with a laugh before Adora grabbed her and wrapped her up into a tight hug that changed her laugh to a surprised squeak. 

“But when? How did you,” Adora questioned before she decided she simply didn’t care. After she finally let the tabaxi go, she looked over at the others and declared proudly, “We did it! We really did it!”

“Slow down there, hero, there’s still a lot of it to do,” Catra warned, “We need to return Ice Breath over there to the Queen and make it out of this place alive.”

“Calcryx,” Glimmer corrected fondly as she patted the dragon’s head, “She’s very excited to go see Meepo soon. But I don’t know about you guys... I need to take a little rest.” With that, she brought herself down to the ground. The dragon curled up beside her and wrapped her tail around the halfling, much to her delight. “This is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me,” she gushed as she snuggled with the dragon. Bow looked on at the scene with hearts practically floating in his eyes from his love of cuteness.

While the others sat resting and gleefully discussing their victory, Catra looked around the tree to see if there was anything of interest. She found a small chest and dug into her backpack to retrieve the keys she had picked up. Once she was sufficiently sure the chest wasn’t trapped, she began trying the keys one by one. Eventually, the lock popped and she opened the chest. Inside were two scrolls, a book covered in dragon scales, and, to the utmost of her interest, a large glass jar that contained a twin of the red apple… only this one was stark white. She risked a glance around the corner to see if anyone was watching for her, and noted that they were clearly all wrapped up in their conversation. 

With that, she tucked the jar away into her backpack and sat analyzing the scrolls before she decided to take one of them as well. She got up from her spot and walked back around casually showing off the book and scroll. “Hey, I found a couple of things back there,” she offered as she handed the two items to Glimmer, “Dragon book and some magic bullshit.”

Glimmer happily accepted the items and started flipping through the book immediately, “Oh! It’s a book of dragon lore. I bet the Queen will be interested in this!” She put it into her bag and then gave her attention to the scroll while the others rested. 

Catra sat down behind Adora and used her sturdy armored back to recline against, “Thanks for helping me not die,” she whispered as she leaned her head back towards an ear.

“My pleasure,” she whispered back then after a few seconds added, “Catra?” The tabaxi made a questioning noise and she continued, “Do you… when we get back to Waterdeep, I don’t know what the others want but… Do you want to keep doing this with me, at least?”

The tabaxi chuckled to herself before answering, “Sure, I guess you’re better company than healing potions after all.” 

“I’m so honored, Captivating Trance,” Adora teased.

“You’re such an idiot,” Catra answered as she closed her eyes and let herself try to rest. As she drifted off, her tail absentmindedly wrapped around Adora’s waist. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DND Fun Faaaaccts: I tried to work in some of their new abilities from the level up by making it into things they'd been trying to do or had learned about, but hadn't accomplished yet. Like Glimmer as a level 3 sorceress has something called "metamagic" which allows her to twist spells to suit her needs. The two metamagics I picked for her to start with are:  
> Extended Spell  
> When you cast a spell that has a duration of 1 minute or longer, you can spend 1 sorcery point to double its duration, to a maximum duration of 24 hours.  
> Twinned Spell  
> When you cast a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, you can spend a number of sorcery points equal to the spell’s level to target a second creature in range with the same spell (1 sorcery point if the spell is a cantrip).
> 
> She successfully used Twinned Spell on Chaos Bolt to take down the frog and nearly the druid.
> 
> Story Thoughts:  
> Do you think Catra got away with using magic this chapter? If someone caught her, who do you think it might be? Will they say something? Hmmm... she had to use magic missile to help Glimmer and her mage hand to take the apple down. 
> 
> Next chapter, we'll see if these goofs can successfully get past Zarn and Cynthia again, deliver the dragon, retrieve the horses (fear not, Adora is a horse girl, okay? She knew to tie them up near fresh water and grazable land), and deliver the apple to sweet baby Thalia in time. Also, dear readers, where are the rest of the goblins? They only saw a handful in this whole section of the fortress that's supposed to be heavily populated by them. **Where are the goblins? WHERE ARE THEY?**


	15. Heal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some serious stuff, some heart warming stuff, some silly stuff. The first quest is officially wrapped up. The party gets a name! The chapter ends with the show down between Glimmer and Catra they've been waiting for*.
> 
> *it's silly, it's a silly show down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are gazed upon by writers with the same level of wonder and joy that Adora regards horses.

“Catraaaa,” Adora called sweetly in a sing-song voice as she wiggled a shoulder to wake the dozing tabaxi.

“What, ok, ready,” Catra answered groggily. She sat up from where she was leaning against the paladin and swung her tail back around. 

Bow and Glimmer were already up and playing with the baby dragon. Though, her version of playing involved more claws and threat of potential harm than either of them bargained for. They seemed relieved once it was clear that the other duo was done resting.

“Alright, time to calm down now,” Bow begged as he dodged out of the way of an attempted tackle. Glimmer echoed him in draconic and added a promise of returning to her family. Calcryx was more than happy to comply with that.

As the party made their way back up through the winding halls of the fortress, Catra listened in and quietly ducked her head into various rooms. Each one was the same as the last – clearly lived in recently, but no sign of any of its residents.

“It’s weird right,” she whispered to Bow as he was leading the group, “There’s no one else down here. We saw, what, five or six total goblinoids?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that is pretty strange” the half elf pondered as he looked around the space with new eyes, “The way the kobolds talked, it sounded like they were overrun. I’ve noticed that most of the tracks in and out of rooms aren’t very fresh too. Maybe we can ask Zarn about it?”

“Ugh, you can try that, but I am not getting anywhere near him and his nightmare rat,” Catra said with a shudder.

Behind them, Adora and Glimmer were busy quietly chatting and trying to keep the dragon under control.

“Will you ask her if I can pet her,” Adora whispered to Glimmer. After the message was relayed, the dragon affectionately put her head up towards Adora’s hand while they walked. She patted her head with enthusiasm and added, “Do you think she’s going to grow up to be a nice dragon?”

“Probably not, all the stories I know about chromatic dragons are bad,” Glimmer said with a frown, “But… maybe if they raise her nice.”

“I think you’ll be a very nice dragon, Calcryx,” Adora said as she petted the dragon again, “And someday you’ll help us save the world from something terrible, I bet.”

“Or, we’ll have to save the world from her,” Catra rebuffed with a laugh. 

\---- 

It wasn’t long until the party found themselves back in the alcove that housed the various experiments. Bow looked into the side room that had contained Cynthia and Zarn, but only found the goblin resting there. He stirred and looked up at Bow with tears streaming down his face, “Cynthia is gone! She chewed herself free while I was away getting her food.” Catra’s eyes grew wide and one started to twitch while she was waiting in the hall. 

“That’s no good,” Bow said casually as he began backing away, “Hey, uh, Zarn, on an unrelated note, Do you know where the rest of the clan is?”

“They were sent out to work,” Zarn said between sniffles, “Something from Greemo about helping the tree. You saw Belak, yes? Did he say he will help Cynthia? Oh, I must find her.”

“Belak, is, uh..” Bow paused and looked back at the others for help.

Glimmer piped up from the hall a little too cheerily, “The dragon killed him,” it was technically the truth, “So we’re taking her back to the kobolds. Too dangerous.”

“Oh,” the goblin frowned, “I guess Zarn will have to save Cynthia…”

“Good luck,” Adora said cheerily as she started to push the others down the hall. 

“I am not going to get turned into a tree monster by that thing,” Catra groaned as she stayed beside Adora, casting paranoid glances into every giant rat sized nook, “Glimmer, tell her that if she sees a giant rat it’s immediate ice breath time, okay?”

The halfling smiled wickedly as she teased, “Wow, can you only remember my name when you’re scared?” She paused to communicate with the dragon briefly. Calcryx slunk down into a hunting stance and took the lead with Bow, “She is not a fan of them either.”

Adora, sensing an oncoming shouting match, pulled the tabaxi’s attention back to her and whispered, “I promise I will chop off their heads with one arm and throw you over my shoulder with the other, okay?” 

Catra smiled at her for a moment before going back scanning the area. ‘Wonder if that applies to halflings that bother me too,’ she thought to herself. 

\----

Their trek through the kobold controlled section of the fortress was as easy as the last time, especially when they saw that they were returning the dragon. Once they reached the throne room, Calcryx broke away from the group and rushed Meepo who was speaking with the queen. The small kobold was tackled to the ground by the dragon who laid icey licks on his face. 

“Oh, Calcryx! Meepo missed you so much,” he said as he hugged the dragon before getting back up on his feet. 

The queen rose from her throne and walked out to meet the party, a gesture of respect she had not afforded them the day prior. “I must say, I was not very hopeful that you would return, much less successfully,” the kobold spoke with a slight hiss in her voice, “You have the gratitude of my people. Before I retrieve your rewards, might you have a moment to entertain me with your tale?”

“Of course, Queen Yusdrayl,” Glimmer replied and then related the important details of their venture through the goblin’s side of the fortress and ending with, “The majority of the clan is away right now, and when they return, they will be missing a leader.”

“Splendid news,” the queen’s mouth turned up in a grin, “This has all been very enlightening.” 

She sashayed to the back of her chamber, unlocking a small chest with a key that hung around her neck. She pulled from it several items before returning back to the group and offering them out. First she held a flask she offered to Adora, “This contains three doses of a powerful elixir. It can cure you of many basic magical maladies -- blindness, paralyzation, and the like,” next she pulled out a silver dagger with a hilt carved like a dragon. She eyed the group before deciding to hand it over to the tabaxi. Last, she gave to Bow a small bag of coins, “You may split this however you’d like. And, little one,” she said referring to Glimmer who smiled through being annoyed at being referred to diminutively , “You may keep the tome of lore. I do believe it will be useful to you.”

“Thank you so much,” Adora spoke for the group and gave a bow, “I am very glad we were able to help each other.”

“Perhaps we will be of use to each other again someday,” Yusdrayl said warmly before returning back to her throne. Calcryx, feeling satisfied with the number of unintended injuries she had given her stand-in father, made her way over and sat beside the queen like a guard dog.

\---

“The sun,” Bow yelled happily as he ran out into the field in front of the cave entrance, “I missed you, sun.”

“It was less than twenty four hours underground, you goof,” Catra teased, although stepping forward and letting the golden beams warm her face did feel very nice. 

“Come on,” Adora shouted as she began to lead the way now, running straight up the hill at as full a speed as her armor allowed, “I want to see horsey!”

They all followed her as she tore her way through the wilderness and found the horses. They were laying in the shade of a tree, looking rather relaxed until they shot up and were spooked by Adora’s running.

“I’m sorry, horsey,” Adora cooed sweetly as she approached the horse and he began to calm down. She rubbed his face and gave him a hug around the neck, “Did you miss me? I hope no scary beasts bothered you.” She began circling the horses to check for any new injuries or suspicious changes. Thankfully, they were no worse for wear.

Once they had the animals situated and mounted again, the party hurried off back towards the town of Oakhurst. It was midday when they stopped in front of the beautiful house at the end of the main street. Adora and Catra led the way, the paladin holding onto the apple for dear life as though she feared if she dropped it the magic would be ruined. They knocked on the door and waited for only a few moments until Spinnerella opened it. Her face lit up in a mixture of joy, shock, and relief as Adora held the apple up to her. She struggled finding her voice as she waved her wife over to join her.

“I can’t believe it,” Netossa offered, tears coming to her eyes, “You really did it.”

Adora beamed and continued holding out the apple, expecting one of them to take it, “It was nothing. We are just happy to help.” The others stood waiting behind her with wide hopeful smiles on their faces as well.

Spinerella looked past the paladin for a moment and caught the eyes of tabaxi, “Excuse me, Catra?” She went from smiling to confused, “Could you give the apple to Thally? I know it might seem strange…”

“You’re all she’s talked about when she’s been awake,” Netossa explained simply as she moved out of the way to allow them to come in. 

“You guys go ahead,” Glimmer said as she and Bow hung back, “We shouldn’t overwhelm her.”

And so Adora and Catra followed along into the small bedroom once again. The little girl was fast asleep, her book tucked under her arm like a beloved stuffed toy. Catra paused in the doorway. She looked sheepishly over to Adora who gave her a confident smile and handed over the apple, “Go on, princess. Save the day.”

The rogue took a calming breath as she held onto the apple and slowly made her way to the bed. As she sat down where she had been the day prior, the girl’s eyes fluttered open and filled with joy. “Princess Catra,” she squealed in a weak, sweet voice. She sat up and hugged onto her side before getting distracted by her tail which she poked. 

“Hey there, Thally,” Catra presented the ruby red apple, “Knight Adora and I went with some friends to get this for you. It’s **magic,** and they say if you eat it, you’ll feel all better. The icky lady won’t hurt you anymore.”

“Magic,” Thalia repeated with wonder, eying the large apple. Catra extended a claw and cut out a large slice, prying out the seeds before giving it to the girl. She ate it slowly at first, but munched into it more quickly as she went, “It’s so yummy.”

“I bet,” Catra laughed as she continued prepping slices for her until the apple was gone. Before even the whole fruit was consumed, the color was returning to the girl’s cheeks and it seemed her whole essence shone brighter, “How do you feel?”

“Hmm, good, I think,” Thalia wiggled her body parts experimentally before hopping up to her feet on the bed, “Mommies, look!” 

Spinerella and Netossa couldn’t hold themselves back any more, they sprung forward and pulled her down into a big family hug. _Everyone_ in the room was crying now except Thalia, who was all giggles and joy. Catra wiped off the evidence of the tears she allowed herself while looking away, and got off the bed to join Adora in the hallway. The paladin wrapped her heavy metal arms around her and began sobbing into her shoulder. 

“Calm down, dummy,” Catra teased as she hugged her and reached a hand up to rub the back of her head, “We did it.”

“I know,” Adora choked out, “They’re such a nice family and so cute and it’s a lot.” 

Catra looked back at family, “I think Knight Adora and I should get going. We’ve got to rest up before we head back to our kingdom.”

“Wait,” Thalia yelled as she wiggled until her moms put her down. She grabbed her book from the bed and brought it up to the duo, “For you! I read it enough times already.”

Catra gave a glance over to her mothers who both nodded their heads at her before she took the book and slid it into her bag, “Thank you. You stay safe now, okay? No more strange stones and icky ladies.”

“Yes, Princess Catra, I promise,” Thalia gave her a hug before dancing her way back to her mothers who both mouthed thank you to the duo. 

Once they were back outside, Glimmer and Bow looked at them hopefully. “It worked,” Adora squealed which made the others start jumping up and down. She quickly joined them. 

“We did it, we did it,” they cheered in unison as they joined hands and hopped. 

Catra watched the whole scene with a smirk on her face and her arms crossed, “It’s a wonder we did, you’re all such idiots.”

“Catra,” Glimmer said as she stopped and gazed up at the tabaxi’s wet shirt, “Oh my gosh, CATRA, were you crying?”

“What, no,” she dismissed the idea as she clinched her hands into fists, “Adora cried on me. I’m not a sap.”

“Aw, sweet Princess Catra,” Glimmer winked before she sprinted back to the safety of the other two. 

“I am never going to live that down,” the tabaxi groaned and headed back down the path to the main street, “Come on or I’m taking all the pay and leaving without you.”

\----

Upon the party’s entrance into the town hall, Mayor Leng sprung up from his desk with an anxious look on his face, “How goes it? Do you require more assistance already? I’m afraid we ---”

“It is done,” Adora said confidently, her hands upon her hips, “Thalia is already recovering.”

“Thank the gods, ” the mayor said with relief as he put a hand on his heart, “That is the best of news. Were you able to come to an understanding with the goblins?”

“Well,” Adora put her hand behind her head and scratched at the base of her ponytail while thinking, “They seem to be a bit mixed up right now. There was a druid, Belak, and he was influencing them to do something awful with the tree. He won’t be a problem anymore, because… he’s dead,” she took a pause as she mentally berated herself for not thinking of a better way to express that. She decided to end with, “The kobolds are retaking the fortress.”

“Interesting,” he scratched his chin in thought before returning cheerily, “I suppose next midsummer we will see if they want to do business. No matter. You all have fulfilled your duties admirably! I shall send for your payment. Do you all have plans? I would be happy to set you up in our tavern and inn for a night. Give you fine heroes a chance to rest properly.” 

Adora looked back to the others who all gave her excited nods, “That sounds wonderful.”

“Does your little group have a name,” the mayor asked as he motioned for one of his assistants to come over.

The paladin looked confused and turned around fully with the others to confer. “I’m not good with names, guys,” Adora panicked as they huddled together. 

“I can’t think under pressure,” Glimmer whined while Catra shrugged her shoulders.

Bow stuck his head out of the group and looked at the mayor with intensity as he declared, “We’re the Best Friend Squad!” Adora and Glimmer both giggled at the name, but didn’t object.

The mayor raised an eyebrow and then shrugged before turning to his assistant to tell him, “Okay, then, if you’ll head down and tell the owner that Mayor Leng is covering rooms for the… Best Friend Squad?”

“Why, gods, why,” Catra groaned as she held her head in her hands. She looked over at the assistant and threw in, “Just the BFS, okay? The meaning is.. uh.. secret, because of our enemies.”

The assistant nodded and said, “Got it. Rooms for the BFS.” The halfling man hurried out of the building and down the street.

“Alright then, BFS. I am going to pay a visit to the Windrun family to check in on sweet Thally, and I shall have your payment sent down to the Ol’ Boar Inn before you depart tomorrow,” the mayor approached and gave each of them a hearty handshake, ending with Adora who still made him wince.

The newly named BFS returned the horses to the constable. Adora was back in tears again as she hugged her sweet horse goodbye. “Bye, horsey, it was an honor being your temporary owner,” she sniffled as she stroked his mane, “I will never forget you.” Bow and Glimmer glanced over to Catra as if she could explain the odd attachment, but she simply shrugged, “She’s a horse girl, I don’t know what else to say.”

By the time they made their way into the Ol’ Boar Inn, word of their deed had spread amongst the locals. There was a small cheer when they entered, which was as shocking as it was exhilarating. “BFS! BFS,” the few patrons raised their glasses to them. 

“We’re stuck with this name, huh,” Catra mumbled to Adora. 

“Yep, we’re a thing of legend and cheers, can’t walk away from our glory,” the paladin said with a wink before giving a friendly wave to their admirers. 

They settled up with Garon, the owner and barkeep of the small establishment, and he was able to offer them two rooms on the mayor’s account. The squad broke into their normal pairings as they entered the rooms and started to unload some of their gear. Adora rolled her shoulders and neck with a relieved moan once her armor was off, “You might be right about needing something lighter.”

“Didn’t we establish that I’m always right,” Catra said with a laugh as she reached up and rubbed her friend’s shoulders, “I guess you do need it since you’re up front getting hit by everything instead of me.”

“Hey, I’d like to remind you that _once again_ , you’re the one that almost died today, not me,” Adora quipped, which made the tabaxi immediately stop her massage, “Noooo… I take it back. Please don’t stop.”

Catra did not return to the caring gesture. Instead she grabbed her backpack as she headed for the door, “Can’t, realized I’m too hungry to be nice right now. Come on, I want to see if the mayor’s deal includes free food too.” 

Once they were back downstairs, they caught sight of the rest of their party who were already seated at a round table by the bar. Bow waved them over happily as though it was possible they had missed them, “BFS, reunited!” he cheered, raising up his drink. 

“Is he already drunk,” Adora whispered to Glimmer as she sat down to her right. 

“Not yet, give him two more sips,” the halfling said with a laugh, “He’s just giddy because that table,” Glimmer pointed at a table of farmers, “Offered to cover our food. Apparently they’re some of the ones who helped to pool the money for the apple in the first place.” 

“Thank you,” Adora waved over to the table who simply raised their glasses at her before going back to talking amongst themselves, “Wow. Everyone here is _so_ nice.”

“Maybe we stay in Oakhurst forever,” Bow took another big drink of his ale, “The BFS are already heroes here!”

“No thank you,” Catra quickly shut him down, “You only think you’d like staying somewhere like this because you’re from a big city.”

“And where are you from, again,” Glimmer asked as innocently as she could, but, alas, the moment was interrupted.

A halfling server appeared by the table with curly red hair. He looked between Adora and Catra expectantly, “Hello there! What could I get for you two?”

“Something fruity and sweet for her, and something strong and dark for me,” Catra answered and the halfling nodded as though it was a reasonable order, “What’s the food situation?”

“Tonight the special is shepherd’s pie, other than that, you know.. Kitchen’s kinda small. More meats and potatoes, lottsa potatoes, maybe some greens,” he shrugged, clearly better acquainted with the bar dealings.

“Two shepherd’s pies, thank you,” Adora answered warmly before looking at Catra with narrowed eyes, “You’re controlling what I drink now?”

“What? You were going to end up ordering something you _don't even like_ to be nice and not complicated,” Catra shrugged, “I’m saving you the agony of having to ask for what you want.”

“You two are so funny,” Bow giggled between sips, “Glim, why don’t you order for me?”

Glimmer smirked and reached up to put a hand on his shoulder, “I’ll be ordering you water.” 

“Such a killjoy,” Catra shook her head as she put her hand on his other shoulder, “Bow, come on, let’s drink these two under the table.”

Adora gave one of her smug smiles, “I don’t know, Catra. Glimmer can hold her drinks pretty well from what I’ve seen.”

“That is one halfling stereotype I proudly embrace,” the sorceress winked, “I’m in if you all mean it! We earned a little fun, and I can’t wait to beat you.”

“You’re going down,” Bow said as he went for a high five that Catra returned. Then he turned to the tabaxi and whispered close into her ear, “Wait, how do you win a drinking contest?”

“The terms we are agreeing to,” Catra paused as she took turns staring Adora and Glimmer in the eyes, analyzing them, “Me and you, Sparkles. Bow versus Adora. Drink for drink, same strengths. Whatever pair has the last person that keeps going without passing out, giving up, or getting sick, wins.”

“DEAL,” Glimmer stood up on her chair to extend her hand and the two shook on it.

“Ooh, that means I get to drink tasty things,” Bow declared as he reached across to high five Adora rather than shake. She returned it enthusiastically with a “Woo!”

Once the orders were sorted out to be sufficiently fair, the drinking game began in earnest. Glimmer and Catra chugged down their first drinks quickly, slamming their glasses down before calling for another round. Bow and Adora clinked their glasses and shouted, “Cheers!” before taking slow, luxurious drinks. 

“This is so good, it’s basically juice of the best fruit ever,” Adora said in delight after her first sip.

“Right,” Bow shouted, “This is my new favorite drink. Is there even alcohol in this?"

After a couple more rounds of Glimmer and Catra matching each other, Adora and Bow were finally finishing up their first drink and watching the other two with amusement as they ate. Catra slammed another empty glass down with a laugh at Glimmer, “How you feeling, tiny?” She leaned back in her chair casually as she balanced it on two legs easily. 

“Great, princess kitty,” Glimmer winked as she finished her drink. 

Catra extended her claws on one hand and drummed them on the table, “Shots?”

“Sounds perfect,” the halfling then looked up at Adora, “How’s it going for you, partner?”

“Awesome. You guys should eat, it’s getting cold,” she picked up Catra’s spoon and shoved a bite into her mouth with a giggle, "Ha, I control your food." 

“Ador-uh,” Catra mumbled through her full mouth. She suddenly realized though that she was in fact, starving, and ate the rest of her own accord. 

\---

Several rounds later, there seemed to be no stopping for the BFS just yet. The tavern had mostly emptied of their regular customers, and the staff had taken to sitting and enjoying the spectacle.

“Listen here,” Glimmer slurred as she stood on her chair, “I can go allllll night, prissy kitty.”

Adora and Bow, both having only finished up their third mostly juice drinks, were barely holding themselves up on their elbows as they shook with laughter. Catra, sprung up from her seat and accidentally knocked her chair down, nearly tumbling down along with it before Adora boosted her back up with one arm. She shouted with drunken fervor, “You and me, all night, tiny,” she laughed to herself at the implication, “You wish, so not my type.”

The server came back over and gave an awkward smile as he tried to decide who was most sober to speak to. He landed on Adora, as Bow was now laid across the table uncontrollably laughing, “Excuse me, mam. We sure appreciate everything the BFS did, but I’ve been told I have to cut y’all off.” 

“Aww, so luuuucky, lil kitty,” Glimmer mocked as she danced on her chair, “I was going to wiiiin.”

Catra growled and Adora stood quickly to grab her hand and hold her back, “Thank you, good sir, I’m,” she slurred but tried her best fanciful voice as she bowed her head, “So very apologetical about the disturbance to your fine establishment. We shall depart to our sleeping chambers. Right, Bow?”

“We shall, indeed,” Bow gave a similar head bow and picked up Glimmer, who mildly protested but with a yawn settled, letting his arms envelop her small frame.

Adora reached into her coin pouch and pulled out a handful of gold that she gave to the server, “For you, we will pay the bill in the morrow.”

With that, the b team of the drinking contest managed to wrangle their smaller partners up to the stairs without letting them kill each other. Before Adora slipped into their room, she freed a hand to reach over and high five Bow, “We won.”

“Oh yeah we did,” he chuckled.

Once inside, Catra gave a low and exasperated whine while she collapsed into her bed, “I was gonna win, Adora. You believe me? Stupid glimmuh.”

“Of course,” Adora giggled as she crawled into her own bed and snuggled in, “Now shush and go to sleep. We have to travel so far tomorrow,” she started to whine herself, “without horsey…”

For ten minutes that felt like an eternity, the tabaxi rolled back and forth in bed. She couldn’t settle down her brain and body to be able to sleep. Eventually she whisper-yelled over at the paladin, who was already snoring, “Hey, Adora,” she waited until she started to stir, “Sleep with me.”

“Wait what,” Adora groggily asked as she woke up, her eyes wide when she processed the words.

“I can’t sleep,” Catra explained as she rolled over to look across the dim room, “Come on, please. I’m too used to your stupid body being around.”

“Pfft, okay," she mumbled as she got up and made her way across the room, “I bet I gotta be squished against the wall too.”

“Uh huh,” Catra grinned as she sat up to allow Adora to climb into the small bed and take the side against the wall.

The paladin groaned once the two were finally situated as best as possible, “I forgot my pillow. Go get it, please.”

Catra stuck out a hand and whispered some words Adora didn't understand. The rogue's mage hand appeared across the room and over Adora’s pillow. She mimicked snatching it up with her real hand and it floated across the room. She dismissed the hand and allowed the pillow to drop it on Adora’s face, “There ya go.”

“Catra,” Adora groaned once the pillow landed then she suddenly realized the tabaxi hadn’t left the bed or even moved, “How did you? What, Catra?”

“Ssssh,” Catra rolled over and put her finger on her lips, “Don’t worry bout it. Sleep time.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life's been weird lately. I just wanted to write a mostly fluffy and fun chapter. Sue me. (please don't)
> 
> DND Fun Fact: Um. Well, Glimmer *does* have the highest constitution of the group. Statistically speaking, in a real game, she'd be more likely to win a drinking contest. Another fun fact: Every chapter is either named after a spell or something DND specific from the adventure. (Cat's Claws, for instance, is what the book lists as the tabaxi ability that allows them to climb and such)


	16. Identify

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The legendary BFS make their way back to Waterdeep. Catra and Glimmer attempt to bond. They take one step forward, and two curious halfling hands back. Waterdeep offers opportunities a plenty -- for scandal, money, and panic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter that's heavily character driven as opposed to action, but has some important moments. As always, comments and feedback fill my heart with delight. Thank you for reading!

The morning light streaming in through the window fell right on the eyes of the sleeping rogue. She whined quietly as she turned her head and pushed her face further into what her half-asleep brain finally realized was a body rather than a pillow. Apparently in an attempt to find a more comfortable pose in the single person bed, she had shifted considerably to the point nearly her entire body was draped over Adora’s. Thankfully, from what she could tell, the paladin did not seem to mind. In fact she was partially held up in place by the human’s arm wrapped around her waist. Her tail was hooked around the wrist of that cozy arm.

Her whole body began to feel hot and not just because her sleeping partner was a human furnace. Catra risked another movement to tilt her head up from Adora’s chest to glance at her face. She looked to be smiling, still in deep sleep, with her breaths coming slow and steady. ‘Okay, idiot, this isn’t like _that_ ,” she scolded herself internally, ‘Don’t get weird about it. Go back to sleep. She’s just being nice, that’s what she does.’ She laid her head back down and took a few calming breaths to try to be normal about all of this and drift back to sleep. Her inner monologue became a tug-of-war between thinking about how nice it felt to be like this with her, that maybe it could mean something… and also telling herself to stop fucking thinking that, you fucking deviant, she’s a god damn angel. 

She endured almost an hour of back and forth between the edge of sleep and the slightest movement of the paladin rousing her to panic again. Finally, she heard a yawn and the arm that was wrapped around her shifted. “Hey Adora,” she rasped out sleepily, trying to pretend she hadn’t been awake already. Catra rolled off of her and into the small space still left on the bed and continued sheepishly, “Uh, sorry about that. Drunk me didn’t think through the whole tiny bed situation.”

“I didn’t mind when… Ha, I didn’t even notice,” Adora assured her as scooted over to press herself into the wall again and decided to deflect as she squinted her eyes, “Ugh, who gave the sun the right to be so bright so early!” 

She threw hands over face to ‘block out the sun’ though really she was hiding her blushing. Adora had woken up when the sleeping tabaxi had maneuvered her way on top of her. She thought it was a dream at first, but once she realized it was very real she didn’t know what to make of it. Her heart was racing as she tried to calm herself back down to sleep. Then, she started to notice a rhythmic rumble coming from Catra that she decided must, in fact, be purring as she suspected before. Adora felt her mind calm when she focused on the pleasant sound. She wrapped an arm around the other woman to make sure she wouldn’t tumble off and into the floor when she woke up. Soon, losing herself in the strange intimacy the duo shared, the paladin was back asleep. 

“The god you’re literally pledged to, dummy, that’s who,” Catra teased and then pulled the blanket up over them to block the sun, “Better?”

Adora uncovered her face and rolled on her side back towards the rogue again, “Much better. Sooo…,” she made a popping sound with her mouth as she thought, “Thinking of my god, the source of my divine magic... Care to explain last night?”

“What,” Catra tested her to see if she would drop it. 

“Catraaaa, come on,” she pleaded as she narrowed her eyes at her. 

Catra gave some consideration to trying to make her believe she had imagined or dreamed the whole mage hand situation. That it must have been the result of all the drinking. However, she knew how much it would drive Adora crazy thinking she was remembering something wrong. ‘Why do I have to get so magic-y when I’m drinking,’ she mused in her head. She sighed in resignation. 

“Okay, fine, I know some magic or whatever, “ she admitted and tried to look away from Adora’s eyes but there was little else to stare at in their blanket cocoon, “Some things, like the hand, just happened before I even knew what it was. I don’t know, it’s weird. I’m not a sorcerer or anything. My moms think that stuff has to do with how I was made. Most magic I’ve learned from studying, more like a wizard.” 

“This explains what a magic nerd you are,” Adora teased, trying to lighten the mood since she could sense the tabaxi was uncomfortable being caught.

Catra lightly kicked at one of her feet in response but smiled all the same, “Obviously, I don’t show people normally. Keeping it secret gives me an advantage, makes them underestimate me. And, really, I don’t…” she paused trying to think of the right words with an awkward look on her face. 

“Don’t like letting people know things about you,” Adora finished quietly.

“Something like that. I don’t know why I’m even telling _you_ all of this, must be that dumb trustworthy face,” she teased before getting serious again, “Listen. Do me a favor. Don’t tell them, please. Wild Magic will lose it on me, she already wants to.”

“I promise,” Adora gave an assuring smile then looked perplexed, “Wait, so… you can do magic but you don’t use it when we fight?”

Catra couldn’t help but laugh at that before clarifying, “I’ve used it, you all don’t pay enough attention to me to notice. Who do you think slammed an orb into Crushy the Bugbear after they did that inflict wounds on you?”

“Things were happening so fast, I didn’t even think about it. Thanks for avenging me, nerd,” the paladin tensed expecting another playful swat.

“I’ll take that if you stop calling me princess,” the tabaxi countered, “And then eventually I’ll work you into calling me something I like.”

Adora chanced shifting into a more flirty tone, “And what would you like me to call you,” but before Catra could answer she realized something else, “YOU. You pulled my hair! I knew I wasn’t dreaming that!” 

Catra gave a smug smile and raised her eyebrows before Adora lunged and tried to grapple her. She was desperately trying to get to her tail to tug it since her hair was too short for proper payback. They tousled under the covers while their grunts and laughter filled the room. At that time, the door swung open unnoticed by either. Bow started to say, “Good mo-” then evaluating the scene misinterpreted what he was interrupting. He quickly and quietly shut the door and looked back at Glimmer, “Um. I think they’re busy right now... Maybe you and I should get breakfast?”

“Oh my, are they,” Glimmer gasped, “Ugh, I can’t with this right now. Let’s go.” 

——

Once they had sufficiently exhausted all of their pent up frustration in play fighting, Catra and Adora packed up their belongings and headed downstairs to meet the rest of the BFS. As they approached the table where the duo was eating their breakfast, both gave them awkward smiles.

“Don’t look so happy to see us,” Catra joked as she sat down beside Bow.

“What, no, I’m always happy to see you guys, unless I’m seeing,” Bow shoved a big bite of potatoes into his mouth to excuse himself from continuing to talk. Catra looked from him to Adora who shrugged as she didn’t understand why he was being weird either

Glimmer took a big drink of her water before meeting eyes with Adora and asking innocently, “Sleep well?”

“Oh yeah, it was great. A real bed’s always better than a bedroll. I’m starving though,” Adora answered quickly as she tried to flag down someone for her order, “How about you two?” 

“Slept just fine in our _beds_ ,” Glimmer gave a cheeky grin, “And how was your morning—“

“I almost forgot,” Bow interrupted and gave a pointed look to Glimmer. He reached into his bag and brought out two small coin bags he handed over, “They sent our pay by! Oh, and I used some of the coin from Yusdrayl to pay off our bar bill… which was _not_ small.”

Adora opened the bag and looked down at the gold with stars in her eyes, “I’m finally going to be able to get my horse!” 

“I wish you had one today,” Catra groaned as she put her coin bag away in her backpack then laid on it like a pillow, “I don’t feel like walking all the way back to Waterdeep.” 

“It’s almost like someone’s idea of having a drinking contest the night before traveling was bad. Idiotic, some might say,” Adora said smugly to which Catra immediately elbowed her.

After the mighty Best Friend Squad was sufficiently fed and rehydrated, the party made their way out of Oakhurst. Their drunken shenanigans the night before had not dampened the overall enthusiasm for the group. While they left they returned many friendly waves and heard children whispering in wonder about them. Adora and Bow looked like a pair of dogs who were repeatedly being told what good boys they were. Meanwhile, Glimmer and Catra slunk behind, each trying to do anything possible to shield their eyes from the bright midsummer sun. 

As such, the majority of the day passed with Adora and Bow keeping up all the conversation. They took turns falling back and checking on their sluggish partners, making sure they were drinking water and still moving. Given that the party was down in their reserves for the day, it was lucky that no trouble met them on the road. Just a few passerby’s, merchants, and horses that Adora fawned over until they were out of sight. When it was time to make camp for the night, Glimmer and Catra finally started to seem more like themselves, which of course meant they were arguing. They were debating about whether or not Glimmer should put herself frontline again like she did with the fight at the tree.

“Look, you go ahead and pop yourself up in front if you want, but I’m pretty sure Adora can’t bring you back if you’re dead-dead,” Catra said flatly as she gestured over to Adora who gave an apologetic nod. 

Glimmer scowled as she looked up at the tabaxi, “Well, I’m sorry if being a halfling means I’m not a little scaredy cat like you! I’m not going to hide in the back.”

“Enough, you two,” Bow commanded in his best dad voice with his hands on his hips, “I think I speak for Adora and myself when I say you need to learn to get along.” 

Adora backed him up, “That’s right. We’re a team! We’re heroes,” she declared then her voice dropped off a bit, “heroes of Oakhurst at least…” 

“Here’s the plan,” Bow said as he gestured over to the sleeping area, “Adora and I are going to get some sleep. You two are on watch together. Learn to talk to each other without yelling.” 

“What,” the two said in unison as they scowled at eachother then Bow and Adora.

Adora, unphased by their obvious resentment, nodded and grinned, “I think that’s an excellent plan, Bow.” 

The paladin went towards her bedroll and started to take off her armor. Catra mumbled something to herself then walked over to help. While she was close enough she whispered, “She’s going to make me kill her, and then I’m going to be on the run my whole life because I killed the Blackstaff’s daughter. I hope you know that.”

“It’ll be fine,” Adora assured her as she stretched, enjoying having her full range of motion back without all that weight, “I bet the two of you have plenty to talk about.” 

“Sure, whatever,” Catra grumbled then returned back over to the campfire as Bow arrived.

After nearly an hour of silently sitting and watching the surrounding woods, Catra decided she couldn’t take the boredom any longer and broke the silence, “So. Why’d you want to take this quest any way? I’m sure you don’t need the money, no offense.”

“Oh,” Glimmer thought about it, throwing down the stick she’d been mindlessly poking the fire with, “To prove myself, mostly. My mom, she’s amazing with magic, obviously, but… she spends most of her time in the tower. I figure why have all this magic if I’m not using it, you know?” 

Catra nodded and kept a neutral face, “Makes sense. I guess sitting around gets boring even if you can have whatever you want.”

“Yeah, ha, you’d be surprised,” the sorceress loosened up her stance and looked over to meet her mismatched eyes, “So, why’d you take it? Just for the pay?”

“More or less,” Catra feigned an uninterested shrug, “Adora wanted to do it, and I owed her one. I mean, you were there. You saw those sad eyes she was using against me.”

“Bow does that to me too,” Glimmer laughed as she mimicked one of his sweet pleading faces. 

Catra snorted, “Yep, exactly. You should’ve seen her when we first walked into Waterdeep. Practically begging to get robbed.” The halfling bit the inside of her cheek as she mulled over what she wanted to ask. Catra raised an eyebrow watching her, “Spit it out, Sparkles.” 

“Adora, she said that when she found you, you’d been robbed and-” Glimmer started to ask and then Catra’s eyes went wide. 

“Hold that thought, I’ll be right back,” she spat out quickly before leaping up from her place at the fire and bounding off into the woods.

\----

By the time Catra had brought herself sufficiently far enough from the campsite, the voice inside her head had completed its message, “Catra, sweetie, it’s been over a month. When you don’t write, we worry and when we worry Night contemplates rewards for your return. Love you.”

Catra laughed to herself before starting to reply back, using her fingers to count her words out, “Things are good. Made a friend. Saved a kid yesterday, you’d be proud. Have a safe place in Waterdeep. Don’t worry. I love you both.”

She leaned up against a tree while she waited for another message to pop up in her head, which of course it did. This time a new voice invaded her mind. It was more stern than the last but filled with love all the same, “Wonderful. We’re so proud of you for using your gifts this way. Waterdeep will offer many opportunities. Keep your mind open, solutions abound, my light.”

She rolled her eyes before replying back, still counting her words, “I’m out here solving my maze, promise. I’ll try to make it back home for a visit by the end of summer. I love you.”

\----

Meanwhile, back by the fire Glimmer sat wondering what had happened. Was the other woman that touchy about the subject of how Adora found her? What was she so desperate to hide that she would run off into the woods alone at night? While she sat wondering this, she realized suddenly that something happened that she had not seen since meeting Catra. She left her bag behind, sitting beside the log she was on. 

Listening carefully but still not hearing any movement, her curiosity and suspicions got the best of her. She quickly opened the backpack and began gently rummaging through, trying not to leave behind any evidence of her tampering. She nudged aside the books and supplies on top, and caught sight of something rather strange nestled in the bottom of the bag: a jar that contained a bright white apple that seemed to glow even in the dark of night. It looked every bit to be the twin of the red apple from the fortress, but she had not seen this one on the tree. She made a mental note of its details before carefully putting everything back how she found it and moving away from the fire for good measure. She stood on the edge of the camp, looking towards where Catra had run off to.

After a couple of minutes waiting, the tabaxi’s mismatched eyes caught the firelight and glowed with her approach. “What was that,” Glimmer asked cautiously, “Did you see something?”

“Yeah,” Catra lied and shrugged, “Thought I saw something big out there. I guess it was nothing.”

Glimmer let it go, even though she had a feeling that was anything but the truth. They took back up their same post at the fire, but the halfling was back to being more standoffish. 

“So, what were we talking about,” Catra asked casually after a few minutes of awkward silence.

“Nothing, it’s fine,” the halfling dismissed her. The rest of the watch passed that way for the most part. Occasionally, they had small talk about Waterdeep, traveling, the like. Catra attempted to be friendly by asking more about the Blackstaff. Glimmer gave basic responses to the questions about her mother, seeming to be back in full defense mode. Catra gave up entirely by the latter half of the watch and silence reigned.

Finally, it was time to wake up Adora and Bow. The rogue stood beside the sleeping paladin and contemplated initiating her “rude wake up call” revenge. Ultimately, she felt too tired to be up to the antics. Instead she knelt down and touched Adora’s shoulder gently and said, “Hey, dummy, it’s your turn.” 

Her steel blue eyes opened slowly and then filled with momentary anxiety. She stared at the rogue, then slowly got up to her feet, “What? No payback?”

“Oh, Adora, I wouldn’t be so predictable as to do it the first chance I have,” the tabaxi mocked her in her low, raspy voice as she lifted up the chest piece to offer it to her, “I can be _very_ patient when I want to be.”

Adora shook her head at her, “You can’t be too scary, you managed to make it all night without killing Glimmer. I think? She’s alive over there, right?”

“Yeah, it was fine mostly,” she dropped her voice to more of a whisper, “My moms contacted me. I didn’t want her to hear my end, so I ran off. I think it spooked her.”

“I’m bet she’d understand if you ex---” she stopped herself as Catra looked at her with an angry face, “She’ll get over it, I’m sure. I won’t say anything.”

“Good,” Catra said as she laid down on Adora’s bedroll, much to her confusion as Catra’s was a foot away, “What? It’s already warm. Go watch for monsters and learn Bow’s life story.”

\----

While Adora didn’t learn Bow’s life story per se, the two of them did have a very pleasant watch together as they chatted until the sun rose. Each happily listened as the other unloaded about all of their interests. Bow was apparently positively obsessed with oozes -- he told her all about all the different kinds he had learned about at the Font of Knowledge, all of their weaknesses and strengths, the ones he had gotten to see samples of at the Tower. Adora, for her part, had never even heard of an ooze and was an enthusiastic student. When they exhausted oozology, the human detailed all of the plans she had about finding and purchasing her perfect horse. He listened and provided oo’s and many more awww’s to her descriptions. 

When it was time to get going for the day, they did not have to bother with waking up the other two. The bright morning sun managed to do that all on its own. Once the party was through with their morning’s rations, they hit the road once more. Their pace was much faster than the day prior’s, given that the effects of the alcohol had completely worn off. The pairs broke off into their more usual formation, and Catra let Adora talk her pointy ears off all about her horse plans that she’d ironed out with Bow. Bow and Glimmer were busy discussing what they looked forward to doing once they were home as though they’d be gone for months.

Finally as the midsummer sun shone high in the middle of the sky, the City of Splendors once again revealed itself. The native Waterdhavians were giddy and practically skipping as they came through the gate. Catra and Adora shared the look of two more experienced wayward travelers. When they were only a few minutes into the city, Catra tugged on Adora’s wrist and stopped her, “Hey, listen. I am going to swing by the docks and sell a couple of things we picked up.” When the paladin narrowed her eyes in suspicion she countered, “I’ll split the money with everyone. All’s fair, okay. I’ll meet you back at the Dragonfly as soon as I’m done.” She slipped a set of keys into Adora’s hand, “Here, for our room so you can put your armor down.” And, like the last time she left her in Waterdeep, she sprinted way before the paladin could ask any questions or protest. 

\----

Catra swung open the door to the Cheeky Pelican and found it looking much the same as the last. Only, this time when she didn’t see the captain posted up in the corner. The blonde man was back behind the bar. She made her way up to him, cautiously glancing around the place. “Hey, is Topaz here? We have business,” she offered plainly, sensing that the human wasn’t privy to most details. 

He went from grinning warmly to looking awkward, “Uh, well, the captain said not to bother her today.” 

Catra dropped to an intimidating tone that she sensed would be more effective, “She’s expecting me. Kyle, was it?” He gulped and nodded, “So, Kyle, why don’t you--”

Her command was interrupted by the door swinging open and cackling laughter began bouncing off the walls of the small room. The human pointed at the door and Catra turned back to see the halfling captain riding on the shoulders of the largest woman she had ever seen. Her laughter ceased when she looked down and made eye contact with the tabaxi.

“Damn, I told you we shouldn’t have come by here,” she complained as she leaned down towards an ear of the other woman, “Gotta deal with some business.” The goliath nodded and placed her back down on the ground gently. “Head down to my quarters, doll, lots of wine in the crate by my bed. This shouldn't take long,” she gave a wink that the goliath returned with a smirk before heading back out. 

With that, Topaz headed back to her usual table in the bar and Catra followed along, exercising all of her restraint to keep her mouth shut about the display. Once they were settled, she cleared her throat then started, “Thought you might be back on the sea when you weren’t here. Guess Lonnie was right about the boat?”

“We’ve had some setbacks,” the captain shrugged wearily. 

“That’s because the boat’s haunted,” Kyle explained as he dropped off a glass of wine for the captain. 

“Don’t spread that ridiculous shit,” she growled as she picked up her wine glass, “The idiots down there doing repairs are making excuses. You know that, Kyle.”

He nodded apologetically and walked back to his post behind the bar, cleaning and organizing. Topaz leaned in to the tabaxi and whispered, “Yeah, it’s totally fucking haunted. I don’t know what we pissed off, but they fix it during the day, next morning.. Something else is fucked up. Only happens at night. I’ve had people down there, hell, I’ve been down there at night watching and no one’s been on the damn thing. No matter what every morning it’s new hole here, smashed stuff there.”

Catra listened with fascination, “Must be bad for business.”

“You’re telling me,” the captain groaned before downing the majority of her wine in one go, “And so, here I am, wasting my time and money in Waterdeep. Shipments so backed up, I had to pay to get Lonnie on someone else’s boat to get some goods out of port and make deadlines. Hell, I think Kyle’s bedroom’s mostly crates at this point. But… you’re not here to listen to me complain. How’d it go with your job?”

“Well, bad news, the apple that the acquisition requested, it’s gone,” Catra explained cautiously. 

“That’s unfortunate,” the captain raised an eyebrow while looking at her, “You’re interrupting my afternoon to tell me you failed?”

“Not exactly,” Catra explained as she reached into her backpack and pulled out the jar with the white apple, “I found this in the chamber with the tree. I figured it had to be worth something.”

The halfling hummed to herself while she turned the jar around in her hands, “Do you know what this one does?” The tabaxi shook her head. “It’s the opposite of the other. It has the power to take away life,” she clicked her nails against the glass of the jar, “The most interesting thing is to me… this one only grows in winter. It should be rotten and gone. Somehow, it’s being preserved in this thing.”

“Wow,” Catra mused aloud before giving a self satisfied grin, “Then, I think this is a much more interesting take. Don’t you?”

“Can’t argue with that,” Topaz offered as she sat the jar back down, “The only thing is -- I don’t traffic in death.”

The rogue gave an incredulous look to that, “Come on, you’re a part of,” she stopped short of saying the name, “You know. You’re telling me they don’t?” 

“Sure, the boss does. Not me. I only take work I can bribe myself out of if I get caught, thank you very much,” she said matter of factly, “But, while I can’t offer you a payday on this, it’s definitely a big check in the yes column for you. Didn’t give up, found a way to a potential win. Very promising.” 

Catra gave a genuine smile and offered a simple, “Thanks.” While she wasn’t sure how deep her interest in joining the guild went now, she wanted to know that she _could_ do it. That she had what it took to count herself among the best of the best in the shady underground.

“Unfortunately, I can’t offer you anything else right now. We’re on hiatus for new contracts until that damn boat situation is handled. Whenever that will be… Not friendly with many holy people myself,” she said with a laugh, “Maybe I ought to get Kyle to start at a temple. He’d make a good cleric.”

“You’re in luck,” Catra scooped up the jar to put it back in her bag, “I happen to be working with a paladin. I think she could be persuaded to help deal with some undead.” 

The halfling’s eyes went wide and all the stress in her face seemed to melt away for a second, “What? Really? If you can make that happen, I’ll recommend you for whatever you want.”

“No promises, but she might be willing. You mean it when you say just move goods, right ? Not _really_ hurting people?” She stared deeply into the eyes of the halfling, waiting to analyze her response. 

“You have my word on that. I’m a criminal, but I’m not a murderer. When I’m rich and can retire, I intend to sleep like a baby,” she explained dreamily, “I’m heading down there anyway, why don’t you come and I’ll show you the boat and introduce you to my contacts on the dock. Then you and your friend are welcome to come ghost hunting any night you want.” 

\-----

Knowing she’d taken a little longer than planned, Catra ran full speed the entire way back to the inn. While she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to talk Adora into the mission, she had a feeling that the appeal of smiting some undead would be strong for the warrior. Especially if she could find a way to be upfront with her about it. The last thing she needed was her up in arms if she lied and Adora found out the truth. As she entered the tavern section of the inn, she waved at Christoff who was dutifully bearmanning the bar. He finished shaking a drink with flourish before greeting her. “Welcome back. Blondie went to the room. Need anything,” he asked after handing off the drink to a patron. 

Catra stopped at the bar and thought about it for a moment, “Not right this second. Is the bard lady here?” 

He shook his head, “Not so far. Reckon she’s back home, been gone since the same day you left. Should be back before the next shows, a couple nights from now.” 

She mulled over her options and whispered, “Do you have somewhere I can hide something? Keep it safe… or, I guess, people safe from it?”

Christoff raised an eyebrow, or, really, the werebear equivalent of such a gesture, “You didn’t bring a monster in here did you?” 

“No, it’s not like that,” she explained, “It’s.. if someone messed with it, they could hurt themselves. I want to put it away until I can ask her about it.” 

He called over to a server who was finishing up at a table, “Cover the bar for me if you don’t mind, Sal.” The half-orc nodded back at him and sauntered over to take his place.

Christoff led the tabaxi back through the winding halls of the lower floor of the inn. Catra vaguely remembered the layout from her arcane infused drunken stupor a few days prior. He took out a set of keys and opened up a door that led to a lavish bedroom. He placed his hand on a small box that was on top of a desk and spoke a command word in an unfamiliar language. The box popped open as though it was always a chest and he looked over at her expectantly, “Alright then, let’s have it.” 

She reached into her backpack and handed over the jar to Christoff. He looked at it curiously and then placed it in the chest. Once it was closed again, there was no visible seam, no latch. Nothing betrayed that it was more than a decorative cube with beautiful art carved into its sides. Their business having been settled, he led her back out of the room and locked up once more. 

“Thanks, big guy,” Catra grinned as she looked up at him, “Soooo.. Since she’s _not_ here, maybe you could let me try one of those drinks again?”

“I like you well enough, kid, but I’m not getting fired for you,” he scolded her but followed it with a big laugh as he patted her on the shoulder, “I gotta get back to work. Sal’s a terrible bartender.”

\-----

Catra entered her bedroom to find Adora sprawled out across the bed and snoring. She had managed to take off her armor, but didn’t make it under the covers. She jolted up at the sound of the door closing, and relaxed when she saw her friend, “Hey, Catra. Sorry… got bored and then I got sleepy.”

The tabaxi sat her bag down and began taking off her leathers to add them to the armor collection. “So, no luck today,” she offered with a shrug, “Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to add to the horse funds.”

Adora yawned and stretched her way out of bed, “No worries,” she glanced out the window at the sun which was beginning to work its way down the sky, “Oh, hey! We still have time. Glimmer and Bow invited us to meet them at some fancy bath house. You know, so we can clean up before we go meet the Blackstaff tomorrow.” 

“What, no,” Catra said as her ears flattened to her head and her tail waved frantically, “I’m not really… that’s a lot of plans. I don’t think that’s…”

“Catra! Don’t be ridiculous. We _both_ could use a good bath, and she said they’ll clean your clothes while you’re there and everything. AND she’s paying for it all,” Adora explained enthusiastically before adding in a more snarky tone, “If you think you don’t smell, I’m here to tell you… you do.”

Catra hissed before quipping back, “Not as bad as you, horse girl,” she took a deep breath and shook her head, “Fine. I guess, if she’s paying.”

The duo finished unloading all of their non-essentials in the room before leaving to head towards the Castleward. Along the way, Catra kept up her typical Adora protection duty seeing as the human was still mesmerized by the beautiful city. Thankfully, once more, they were spared pickpockets and the like. The tabaxi could smell the many layers of perfume wafting into the street before they even reached the building. Marble statuses of sirens stood watch on the outside, sparkling in the light of the setting sun. As they entered, they were greeted by a purple tiefling woman in colorful robes with embroidery of the sirens and symbols of the sea, “Welcome to the Font of Delights. How may I help you luxuriate this evening?”

Adora spoke up, “Our friend, Glimmer, she asked to meet her here for the private baths?”

“Yes, of course, Angella’s daughter told me too expect you. Come along, lovelies,” she beckoned in a voice smooth as silk and turned gracefully on her heel to go further into the building. 

The two followed along behind the sashaying woman until she brought them into a large open room. Inside was a gigantic pool of water with steam rising off of it and pouring into the room. Catra stared at Adora with stunned confusion, “Wait. I thought you said _private_ baths.”

“Um, yeah, excuse me, mam, I think there’s been a mistake,” Adora reached to tap on the tiefling’s shoulder, trying to avert her eyes from the pool before she heard a familiar voice

“You guys made it,” Bow shouted happily from somewhere in the large, very public bath. 

Catra and Adora exchanged panicked looks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, the only thing I've written with a somewhat cliff hanger -- what will happen at the bathhouse?! Ha. Classy. I imagined this bathhouse like the one that my current DM described in our campaign -- there's this big public area or there are little private rooms where you can have your own tub and such. The latter is what Catra and Adora were expecting. This is *not* what Glimmer signed them up for. Bless.
> 
> Character note: Catra’s moms are very different in tone, but they all love each other very much. However, Night would definitely put out a reward for her safe return if she didn’t reply and nothing would make Catra die of embarrassment more.
> 
> DND Fun Fact(s): Halflings have a racial feature called "brave" which lets them have advantage against frightening effects. Brave lil Glimmer. 
> 
> If you're not familiar with goliaths or tieflings -- 
> 
> Goliaths are basically half-giant humans. They range in height between 7-8 feet (halflings average in height of about 3 feet, for reference, ya know, If you, like Catra, are trying to figure out the logistics here...)
> 
>   
> Tieflings look like a mix between a human and a devil, but that doesn't mean that they're evil. For instance, if you want a visual of a sweet tiefling baby angel google "Jester Critical Role." Then watch/listen to Critical Role. You're welcome!


End file.
